Avatar Jake the Earthbender
by NightossTheTiger10
Summary: It has been over seventy years since the passing of Korra. The age of the Eaqulist long forgotten, and the world finally at peas. Jake the new Avatar faces a path harder than he would ever imagine...
1. Chp 1 Welcome to Ba Sing Sei

**_~Book One Fire~_**

Over the mountains and through the glades that mark the Earthbenders nation lies the next generation of benders, non-benders, and the Avatar...

It was a festive day in Ba Sing Sei, for it was avatar day about seventy years had passed since avatar Korra. On this day the world would meet its new avatar. Just off the docs were two girls walking away from the ship that arrived shortly after the Earthbenders started setting up their shops and stands for Avatar Day.

"Ah, to be free from the fire nation, it's like a whole new world out here" the blond young woman said to her black haired friend walking around the city.

"Lexi you shouldn't have left home... You aren't even 18 yet, your family will send someone after you"

"Yes I know but I've never been outside the fire nation all I've known my whole life is firebenders, I am tired of sitting at home while others get to have grand adventures" Lexi said dragging her friend deeper into the city. Alexa her friend sighed while following closely to Lexi's heals.

"I'm gonna have my grand adventure Alexa! I am going to travel the world then I'll go back home and marry like my family wants" Lexi said stopping at a tea shop and sitting inside

with her friend where a young waterbender was. Little did they know their destinies were connected. The waterbender looked like a short tempered little fellow, not really wanting to be there. He groaned and looked at the Fire Nation girls.

"Think you fire people could smuggle me back on the ship... I want to go home..." The water tribe boy said. From the looks over his tunic, he was from the Northern Tribe.

"Whining... He must be a waterbender" Lexi said sipping her tea glancing at him, almost as if she was judging him.

"Lexi, don't be rude... I'm sorry sir but our ship has already departed back to the Fire Nation sadly..."

"Great... Stuck in Earth territory, and not a single Water Tribe Food stand in sight..."

"What is the food not to your liking little one" Lexi said she was rather annoyed with the young waterbender complaining about something so small.

"Well I was fine untill I found out there were no seaweed noodle shops. I would at least feel at home if they had one, but I don't even know if there are other Water Tribe members here." The Waterbender said looking at the tea cups at the tea stand "I'll take one cup of tea I guess..." He added. Lexi paid for her and her friends tea before walking past the waterbender, all while making a snide comment on how waterbenders where weak compared to firebenders.

"Lexi that wasn't nice" Alexa said embarrassed by her friends behavior.

"Do you say so, because waterbenders can blood bend!" The young boy piped from the stand. He was staring right at lexi.

"Don't judge a waterbender till one kicks your ass!"

"Yes and some firebenders can bend lightning... and oh wait that form of bending isnt illegal" Lexi said turning around smirking "kid go home some people want to be here and you are ruining the experience for those people"

"At least I'm not bragging like a selfish Firebending princess!"

"No, not a princess too many rules for my taste" Lexi said blowing a kiss that turned into her blue fire, before walking over to another shop that had clothing.

"I-I'm sorry about her..." Alexa said wishing she was back home with her family and friends and not in public with Lexi's behavior.

"Well... It's not your fault she behaves like a seven year old..." the Waterbender said placing the tea cup down and marching off like he owned the stone walkway.

"She's not always like this she's actually a nice person I promise... But she's my only good friend since i'm a non-bender"

"Huh, non-bending?" He said stopping to look back, "Well, you can't be all bad then. I don't always get along with other benders... Even though I bend water... By the way, I'm Mikey, Mikey Winters of the Northern Water Tribe."

"She may be princessy but thats because shes the only child her mother lost all her other siblings while pregnant so she is their princess and so she acts like it, but I do aopolgiz- Lexi you can't lightning bend here" Alexa yelled as her friend gotten into her lightning bending stance.

Mikey looked over as the blond haired Firebender shot lightning around.

"Hay!" A skinny, and very hippy young man said as he ran over and pounded his foot on the ground making a wall of earth around Lexi.

"Destructive bending is not permitted on a festival day!" he said.

"Says you, you just knocked over a wall, I bended above the reach of people and important buildings, no one is hurt" Lexi said crossing her arms.

"Yes but not everyone here is accustomed to lightning flying over their heads!"

"Most people aren't fond of walls falling and crushing them, and who are you the lightning police"

"No, I am a police officer in training!" He said looking at the wall he knocked down, then bending it back up right. Lexi walked over to him poking him in the chest,

"What are you gonna do, arrest me for bad manners" she said smirking.

"I will if I have to... We're going to be watching closely if you start something again... Don't think we won't arrest you and send you back to your nation..." The earthbender said.

"Dude, come on cut her a break! She may be acting like a snotty little kid, but she's trying to get away from her mom and dad..." Mikey said walking up and getting right in the earthbender's face.

The earthbender stared at them both for a second. "Fine, just stay out of trouble if you want to stay under my radar-" he said before being cut off by a huge ball of night blue fur tackling him down

"ACH! Cinos! Get off of me!" He shouted.

Following the blue animal was a strong burst of wind, and a figure almost tackling the animal on top of the Earthbender. With two long braids hanging from her head, she exhibited traditional airbending clothing and tattoos along with an excitable personality, which showed as the girl exclaimed affectionate comments to the blue beast.

"What the spirits..." Lexi said raising her eyebrow "No i know im not home anymore.." she said shaking her head.

"Ughh... Jaaaaaaake!" The Earthbender called.

Almost as soon as the earthbender bellowed, an older teen decked out in regular peasant clothing rushed up to his elder and suddenly shot a dark glare at the big ocean blue animal. He donned a long ponytail with a tuft of hair falling over his head, and his expression on his face was not exactly happy. "Cinos," He barked, showing extreme discontent with the beast's actions,"Get back over here right now, or else I swear to the spirits I will earthbend you into a ditch and leave you there unless you behave!"

"harsh" Lexi muttered looking up at the sky, "well its been just lovely playing with you ladies but the festival starts soon, have fun not being real police" Lexi said dragging her friend with her.

"Yea, what ever fire girl..." The older earthbender said getting up. He put his finger to the creature named cinos. "Now look here, Cinos. I'm trying to get things ready to Avatar Day, and Jake can't chase you around all day and babysit you!"

The seemingly stupid animal just panted and stared at the bended with ha happy look on his wide face.

"Wow... A wolf-cat... Aren't they supposed to be really hard to train?" Mikey asked.

"Cinos is a work in progress..." The police apprentice said. "And he's not mine, he belongs to Avatar Jake here..."

Mikey shook his head somewhat dumbfounded. "He's the Avatar? He looks so... No offense... Like a peasant."

Jake narrowed his brown eyes at Mikey, seeming offended by his comment anyway; yet, he simply looked back at Cinos and tugged roughly at his harness.

"Appearances aren't always what they seem." He huffed, obviously ready to go back with the wolfcat.

"Gee I wish people could figure that one out about waterbenders..." Mikey said looking around.

"Jake hold on, are you about ready for the festival?" The elder earthbender said.

Jake let out an exasperated sigh at the elder's question and scoffed "As much as I'll ever be. Look, I already told you that I never even wanted to do this whole spirit-forsaken 'Avatar Day' in the first place."

"Come one come all! Come put your name in a raffle box to win the prize of a life time! Place your name in your appropriate bending style!" a man said as he jumped around four boxes that sat near a stage.

"Alright is this some kinda scam i'm not putting my name in that box" Lexi said skeptically at the ticket guy.

"Sure whatever..." Mikey said, throwing his name into a blue box.

"What is this prize of a lifetime"

"I don't know, it could be a lifetime supply of food, a yacht, a mation... Anything..." Mikey said.

"i don't trust it but I'll put my name in there" Lexi said putting her card in the fire nation box before going and drinking some tea. Mikey found his way to a place to sit and took a seat to watch the actors on the stage. A young girl with two long braids, the same one who was chasing Cinos down earlier on, had then walked to the ticket boxes and stayed at her spot for a while, as if she was pondering. She then added a ballot into the air temple's boxes and walks off to one of the nearby tables to sit down.

Mikey watched many people approach and add their names. Including the elder police guy that had spoke with him. "Just what could that be all about?"

"From what i've heard its supposed to be this grand adventure of a lifetime" Lexi said sipping on her tea.

Mikey looked at her then back at the boxes.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen! We're going to begen the drawing for the benders that will train the new Avatar!" said a man up on the stage.

Mikey coughed and shook his head, "Say, WHAT!"

".. Hey can I uh get my name back, thanks!" lexi said, her eye was twitching with irritation.

"And here is Kira, he'll be reading the winners of our contest!" the man said handing the mic to the elder earthbender. He looked over his shoulder hesitantly at Jake. Knowing the changes that had occurred over the past month with the discovery of the Avatar.

"Well, alright then... the first bender..." He said waiting to add suspense. "Lexi Flame of the Fire Nation!"

"NO THANKS" Lexi said looking around nonchalantly. Kira walked over to the yellow box with the airbenders names.

"Now for air." He said pulling out a name. The same girl from before had all of a sudden started to stir, look very flustered at the moment.

Fira looked at the note with a suspenseful gaze, making the crowd sweat. "Trixie Breeze of the Air Temple Island!"

Apparently the girl's name was just that, as she froze in her place, staring wide-eyed at Kira stuttering sheepishly.

Kira looked at the water box and placed his hand in. Mikey piped out, "I'm totally not getting my name-"

"Mikey Winters of the Northern Water Tribe!" Kira anounced.

Mikey started. "WELL CRAP!"

"Yea.. I'm just not gonna do that" Lexi said getting up to leave.

"Last but not least, earth" kira called out. Several earthbenders looked excited. They wanted to be the famous teachers of the Avatar. Kira pulled a name out and looked at the paper and dropped it. His eyes were huge.

a

"Kira Obsidian of Ba sing Sei" He said looking out into the croud with large green eyes. "Me..."

Jake had been lingering behind him in the comfort of the shadows through the back of the stage. His face was hard to make out if he was angry or content, but the young avatar's expression looked like it visibly changed to one of surprise.

Mikey looked like he was going to run, but was discouraged due to all the guards. Lexi was slowly inching towards the gate.

"The firebender is running away!" some random freak said epically pointing at Lexi.

"DAMN YOU" lexi said before running away from the festival.

"Wait!" Kira said ask he stomped the ground and shooting himself off after Lexi. He landed in front of her and held out his hands.

"Hold on a minute" He said.

" I did not leave home for this" lexi said walking past him"

"You may think that but what if the spirits brought us together for a reason?"

"How is a self taught teenager gonna teach the uh-va-tar"

"I don't know any other firebender who knows how to bend blue fire, and lighting..." Kira said. "I know Jake might not appear to be a good Avatar, but if no one trains him, how will he ever hope to master the four elements?"

"There is nothing wrong in the world no war, no equalists"

"That doesn't mean that there will never be trouble again..."

"... Give me one good reason that doesn't involve the spirits"

"You won't have to go back to the Fire Nation for a while? Please, just think about it... If you really don't want to do this... I'll try to find someone better..."

"...Fine but I'm not going easy on him" Lexi said pushing past Kira.

Kira gave a sigh of relief and looked back to the festival. The two walked back and met up with the Avatar and the new team. The Avatar had his arms crossed defiantly while he waited for the group to catch up. He knew these people weren't exactly fond of them already, and he certainly didn't feel like having to deal with them all day, every day, for however long it took for him to master the elements. Jake had enough trouble as it is trying to cope with his lack of social skills and his being the holy, almighty, Avatar; now he had to face going around a bunch of people he didn't know or like and actually try to learn from them.

Cinos lowered his head to Jake's side and looked up at him. The large Wolf-cat may act like a kid, but he at least knew how the Avatar felt, and wanted to be there for him.

"So.. Where are we going..." Lexi said not facing the group of people. Mikey looked around and pointed.

"What about that volcano?" the waterbender asked.

"The closest volcano is two boat rides away" Lexi said.

"That would work. Considering the training and traveling. A volcano is a good start for firebending. What do you think, Jake?" Kira asked, trying let the Avatar have a say in his training.

Jake contemplated Kira's question for a minute, almost answering with a snarky "as long as I can push them all in there" but holding it back, knowing that if he complained the whole time that the training would just take longer. He shrugged anyway, not particularly caring where they went as long as they could get it over with.

"I'll try not to make it painful..." Mikey said looking at Jake. "My water trainer was a little harsh... I'll do my best not to be the same with you" He added while petting Cinos.

Jake eyed Mikey almost suspiciously as he watched the waterbender pet Cinos. He wasn't sure how to reply, so he simply looked on, not saying a word in response.

"Lets go already geez..." Lexi said impatiently.

"Alright," Kira said as he looked at Trixie. He looked away feeling bad for choosing someone as shy as her. She stayed silent the entire trip, never looking up from the ground. Mikey had taken note of her behavior and tried to lighten the mood.

"Hay umm, Trixie! What do you call a duck with a horse face?" He said, "Naw... sorry... that was stupid, ignore me... I just don't want everyone all gloom and doom the whole time."

At the first part of his question, Trixie startled and shot a flighty look at him. After he was finished she then looked slightly embarrassed and murmured in a soft voice "You're not stupid, you are just trying to be helpful." She then smiled sweetly at him and turned away. "I thought that was very kind of you."

Mikey looked up a little and smiled, "Oh, good... Oh hay, this way you can spend more time with this big fuzz ball!" Mikey said pointing to Cinos.

Trixie's expression then brightened up, grinning happily as she rushed over to Cinos. The airbender hugged Cinos tightly and showered him with love and affection which showed how much she apparently was fond of other creatures. Mikey smiled, and Cinos wagged his thick fluffy tail.

Kira sat near Jake, away from the others and watched. "You know..." Kira said. "I'm sure this won't end up being such a bad thing..."

Jake shot a look at Kira, then looked away. "That's what you think." He replied quietly, not wanting attract attention or have a talk right now. "You already know how I feel about this whole situation. Can't I just learn these by myself instead of having to hang around all these people?"

"I agree there no threat to the world, and no one wants to be here, just let the uhvatar learn the elements by himself" Lexi said shooting lightning off a cliff.

"You know, it's not that easy!" Kira said. "You act like you only care about yourself, there's more to this then then just training Jake! Most people don't know, but something happened a while back, something frightening... If theres no Avatar... It's over..." Kira said getting up and walking off.

Cinos tilted his head and looked at Jake. Jake looked back at Cinos with discomfort showing in his eyes as he listened to Kira walking off.

"Out of this group of people I only do care about my self alexa, why.. BECAUSE I KNOW HER AND MYSELF, everyone else here NEVER GONNA SEE AGAIN AFTER THIS IS OVER" S

Mikey sat up and looked hurt, "That's harsh you know. Maybe you should just leave, we'll find someone better to train Jake, 'cause I'm just sure he wants to get yelled at..." He said. Trixie also stared at Lexi, as if she was scared of her mere presence. She hid behind Mikey and Cinos, as if they could shield her from the, seemingly mad, woman.

"I uh... Kind of have to agree with lexi on this one... She is right none of us know each other... So it isn't technically fair to assume everything is all good with this decision... I'm not even a bender and I can't honestly say that I would trust people I was just thrown basically in a lion-turtle den with.." Alexa said drawing in the dirt. "But... That's just me im sorry if that came off weird"

"I know what you mean but... How is this different? When Aang first came back, no one trusted him, but Katara! Jake needs us to trust him like Katara trusted Aang... Sure they met the other benders along the way, but they became his friends! And Firelord Zuko, who was hunting Aang even became his friend. Just because we don't know each other at all doesn't mean we have to hate each other!" Mikey said. Alexa flinched and looked down.

"I..I'm sorry..." Alexa said sniffling quietly

"Don't yell at her again waterbender..." Lexi said standing in front of her, "I could care less if you hate or yell at me, but I will not let anyone of you treat her like she is less of a person just because she can't bend."

"Wha- No! I wasn't yelling at her! I was yelling at you!" Mikey said.

"You want know the difference between aang's time and now... They were closer in age, and it started with three people it wasn't a huge jump of people thrown together because of a gamble"

"Fine... I'll just leave make the group smaller!" Mikey said before he was cut off by Cinos' snarling. Their fighting was irritating the usually calm giant. His uneasiness made it clear that it was disturbing Jake as well. Jake had been trying to keep quiet the whole time, but his attempts were failing him at the moment. Sitting down with an aggravated sigh, the Avatar had put his head in his hands in frustration, wishing that he was alone with Cinos at the time.

Cinos sensed his friend's feelings and on instinct went to hims and put his muzzle on his shoulder. Feeling his beast's warm presence, Jake put a hand on his muzzle and stroked his fur, knowing that if anyone could try to help him through his hard times, it would be Cinos.

The big blue fuzzball purred with his ears down, but his pur soon turned to a growls as his ears flattened back. His crimson eyes staring into the forest.

Jake noticed the quick change in his pet's behavior and calmly asked "Cinos? What is it, what's wrong?"

The answer came as Kira came running back stumbling under the pain of exhaustion. "RUN!" The word had barely left the earthbenders lips before a burst of black fire lit the trees around them.

"T-Thats impossible" Lexi said backing up shaking slightly.

"What!" Mikey asked looking at her. "What's with the black fire?" He added.

"Th... That's just an old tale... No one can bend fire... It's not possibl- GO take the avatar and get out of here, Alexa go with them" Lexi said cracking her knuckles.

"No, I'm not leaving you here on your own!" Mikey said.

"No one will be leaving this site" A voice said from a tree.

"Heh... I'm better off not in the group JUST GO"

"Fine, but if I don't see you alive in an hour, I'm coming back for you-" the waterbender's words were cut short, by a strike of black lightning.

"AUGH" he cried before he fell.

"I told you to go, would someone get him and go, you could all end up dead here"

Jake suddenly stomped his foot to the ground and earthbent a large wall from the ground up, and took off, motioning everyone to start running. Kira helped Trixie to her feet and got Mikey, and Alexa, quickly taking Cinos by the rains, and ran.

"What's your business with the Avatar..." Lexi said narrowing her eyes at the direction the voice came from.

"My business is none of your concern, firebender..." it said darkly.

"It is, you wanna go toe to toe with me hotshot lets go"

The entity that let the black flames did not reply but he did show himself. His body frame was small, and his hair was a tangeled mess of spikes. His clothes appeared burnt, signed by the black fire he held in his hands. His eyes, pale like there was no soul running the body.

"So what's a runt like you doin with black fire"

"It was a gift given to me by the dark spirit of the old times..."

"Are you gonna talk or do something hotshot"

The small firebender turned and kicked, sending a jet wave of black fire at Lexi. Although it missed... The heat and speed was extreme... Lexi backed up from the fire a bit, she charged at him feet and hands a blaze. The darkbender jumps and send black fire from his fists and feet.

Lexi spun and kicked through the dark flames and send a bolt of lightning at the darkbender, after sending a flaming punch towards the figure. He dodged the attacks and threw back lightning and fire, equally matching the firebending in speed and heat. Lexi jumped up and sent a flaming kick towards the figure's head.

As she jumped, suddenly, the ground started to crumble and shake violently below her as it trailed towards the dark firebender. Jake was behind her, trying to help. The earth speedily rose up a block underneath the darkbender's feet, in order to launch him off, flying. Lexi took the opportunity to send a flaming punch into the figures stomach.

The fire made an impact and flew into a couple trees. He slowly got up and held his chest looking up at the Avatar and the firebender.

"What do you want with the avatar" Lexi said defensively, her hand still on fire.

The dark being rose to his feet and glared. "Avatar Korra... Killed my family in cold blood! And I, Darkfire, will not rest until I see the Avatar dead!" He snarled. Lexi stepped infront of the avatar.

"Not while I'm around, get lost"

"Don't think this means you have won... I'll come back..." he said darkly, as black flame engulfed him. The fire soon subsided and there was no trace of him left but the burnt forest.

Lexi hissed and held her side, "come on uh-va-tar you should tell the others on whats going on" she said looking at him.

Jake shook his head, confused. "... I'm not sure what that was about."

Cinos had followed his master back, weary of the burnt grass and trees. Their eyes met and in that single moment a single question was asked.

"How will we ever get through this now?..."


	2. Chp 2 Dark Fire

Lexi was sitting with her shirt off, back facing the group while Alexa bandaged her chest and back.

"Damn... The black fire can really get to you even if it doesn't touch you," Lexi said hissing, "not so tight"

"I'm sorry but the bandage has to stay on" Alexa said, relieved her friend was alive.

Mikey didn't get off as easy as Lexi had. He was still shaking from the sheer power of the black lightning.

"What the hell was that monster?..." Mikey asked quietly.

"A blackfire bender... you're lucky to be alive" Lexi said sipping her tea.

"I figured..." Mikey said.

"I'm lucky to be alive... I thought they were an old scary story but that was just..." she trailed off shaking.

"He better stay away then... Jake doesn't need a psychopath trying to kill him..." Mikey said. Cinos sat curled around the young earthbender, watching the group talk. Jake sat there, facing opposite of the group while tossing a rock in the air, back and forth. He wasn't feeling like being around the people at the beginning, and this event discouraged him even more. He pondered on about his past; he didn't feel like making history repeat itself by being around the group any longer.

"So... have you guys decided on what your group is gonna do now" Alexa said hugging her knees to her chest.

"Pray to the spirits that we don't die?" Kira said looking at Jake. "I shouldn't have let this happen... His training could have waited..." he added looking down.

"Well at this point now that we know there's a threat... we may as well train him in the elements..." lexi said holding her side standing up.

"Lexi is right. That Darkfire guy is dangerous... What if the Avatar isn't enough for him? If we don't do something... Things could get bad..." Mikey said trying to stand up.

"then I suggest we start now... we have no time to waste, you, uhvatar come with me" Lexi said walking in the direction of the volcano.

Kira put his hand on Jake's shoulder, and he looked up at him. His eyes held a blank look, but Kira knew he was thinking hard about what had happened... "Go ahead and train with Lexi, we'll stay here and set up a camp. If you're not back by moon-" he was cut off by lexi

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to him, even if you all hate me I have a job to do, right... Besides its not hard to teach stances before nightfall" Lexi said walking off.

Kira smiled and sighed. Watching Jake follow. "I was only gonna say if something happens to you two, I'd send Cinos to sniff you out."

While the Avatar was training the group set up camp. Trixie had flown off to gather some food for everyone. Mikey and Alexa had been left to watch the camp. Mikey was seemingly quiet but there was no negative vibe coming from him. He eventually looked over at Alexa.

"Hey um.. I was wondering, when you bandaged Lexi, do you know a little medicine?" he asked.

"Yes.. But I am only normal types of bending but from what she described... I've never seen anything like... More to the point i've never seen her scared before.." Alexa said looking up from the fire.

"Well, you did really good tending to her. If you were a waterbender, you would be a great healer..." Mikey said with a smile.

"Nah... I'm just doing my job in keeping her in as good a shape as possible"

Mikey just smiled, "Yea but still, that was pretty good, and uhh, I'm really sorry if I upset you when I was freaking out. This whole Avatar thing is... Pretty crazy."

"Oh it's okay... Lexi is just very protective just because I'm not a bender and some benders take advantage of that"

"Well, I personally like non-benders. Some of the best things we have today come from the non-benders. So, you're pretty cool"

"T-thanks"

Mikey smiled and turned to heal himself with his waterbending. "So, Lexi wants to get away from her mom and dad?" Mikey said, remembering when Alexa told him about Lexi.

"Yes she does... I don't think it's her parents she is running from though.."

"I see... I was sent here by my mom and dad to bring honor back to our tribe. I don't like being forced to, but now that we're here to train the Avatar. I'm going through with what my mom and dad wanted." Mikey said. "I guess we shouldn't try to run away from our fate, to try and change it. I hope Lexi doesn't have to face fury when she goes home,"

"She's running from marriage, because her family is of the more wealthy families she is required to marry another wealthy person even at this age, she didn't agree with it and got on the next boat to the earth kingdom"

Mikey looked over at her with a full understanding of why Lexi was the way she was. "Makes sense now, thats why she was so upset about us all being mashed together too right? like we were being forced to be friends, like she was being forced to love someone she didn't know."

"Basically yes, she's not as wicked as she seems she is actually a caring person, she just doesn't like to be forced into things"

"Well, I'll let her have her space, and let her decide if I'm friend worthy." Mikey said smiling big. He looked over at Cinos who was listening it with perked ears and a wagging tail. Alexa nodded and smiled.

"What do you think Cinos?" he added.

"Arff!" Cinos barked, wagging his tail more. Mikey chuckled and saw Kira coming back with some more herbs and things they could use on their trip.

"Save those for when I'm out of commission, being a waterbender, I learned healing" Mikey said. Kira nodded and carefully placed them in a bag he carried on his shoulder. He looked up to see the rest of the group returned. Trixie had come back too with most of what she could carry. The little airbender was stumbling and bumbling, but she was still managing with what she could handle.

"Need any help?" Kira asked sitting up.

"I- I think I'm alright..." Trixie trailed off with some uncertainty in her voice. Behind her was Jake following closely behind. Lexi was there too. She made her way to Alexa and sat down. Making it clear she wanted her space. From the looks of things, things went well. The avatar seemed like he was slightly aggravated, but he was still backing up Trixie in order to help her if she needed it.

Mikey sat up and looked over the the returning group. He sighed knowing it wouldn't be seaweed noodles, but he had to eat something. Trixie had let all the fruit she was carrying drop down near the fire, but not too close. She let out a sigh and sat down next to Jake, who was still apparently brooding about something.

Cinos hopped up and went to Jake's side and sat by him. Jake glanced at Cinos and put a hand on his fur to acknowledge him, but he looked off into the fire again getting lost in his thoughts.

Mikey picked up one of the fruits and looked at Trixie, "So uh, sorry if I sound stupid." What all did you pick up?" Mikey asked.

"Take cover if you got Fumpkins in there." Kira said.

She looked at him with slight confusion."Why...?"

"Cinos here eats those things like candy." Kira s

aid while laughed a little. Cinos wagged his tail in reply to the comment.

" Umm..." Trixie ran behind Jake, who didn't seem to notice her sudden movements. "Then we might be in trouble."

Kira laughed. "I'm sure he won't hurt anyone over it, but I do know he will take the Fumpkins."

Cinos sniffed around with his ears up, being as fluffy and curious as can be. Mikey dug through the fruit and was able it pick out a Fumpkin. You could never miss the strange bright yellow fruit. He quickly dropped it before Cinos tackled him. Jake then seemed to be startled, and glared at Cinos.

"Cinos," Jake drawled, "Don't start this again. You know how much trouble you cause once you start eating those...!"

Cinos gave a cute look at Jake as if to say 'Just one, please?' but Jake blatantly refused, glaring daggers at the blue beast and the fruit. Cinos gave a yelp before leaving the fruit next to him and sitting down.

Mikey tilt his head and just decided to eat something before he died of starvation.

"Cinos is strange." Mikey said. "I don't know many carnivores that eat Fumpinks"

"He's always been that way, he's so picky." Kira said.

"Well maybe he just doesn't have a taste for boring food?" Lexi said sitting back against a tree. While Jake shrugged quietly, Cinos accepted some normal fruit over the Fumpkin just to make Jake feel less moody. Kira eyed the wolf-cat know he'd sneak them over night. Trixie had settled down and sat down next to Jake again, less flighty then she was before.

"Well, I'm going to sleep, we need to start training more tomorrow." Kira said as he was laying down. Mikey stuck his fists up in the air.

"Not sleepy!" he said.

Jake looked at Mikey oddly. "Suit yourself, but you're going to be tired in the morning." The avatar had gotten up and walked off with Cinos. Mikey glared a little.

"Gee I was just trying to be silly..." He said looked back at Kira who was giving him a creepy face. "Right, good night!" he added before laying down and hiding under his sleeping bag.

"Should someone keep watch should that bender come back" Lexi questioned while adding more wood to the fire.

"Yea that is probably smart" alexa said yawning.

"I'll keep watch then" Lexi said looking around on alert.

Cinos went off with Jake knowing he was feeling so freaked out about what happened that day. He couldn't speak, but sometimes a silent friend was what the Avatar needed.

The two sat alone in the dark, looking at the stars.

"Korra... Did you really do the things that darkbender said you did?" Jake asked, absentmindedly. When there was no answer he looked back at his big blue friend. The wolf-cat only looked back to him with his head cocked to one side. His eyes soft and relaxed. Jake gave a brief smile and scratched Cinos behind the ears.


	3. Chp 3 The Flames of Destiny

Mikey was walking down a gravel path after Kira and Jake left. Lexi was allowed to take a break for the training and let the black fire burns heal. Mikey knew it hurt, but Lexi was like a proud warrior, not wanting to admit weakness. Couldn't blame her. A warrior was always taught to keep their pain covered. The waterbender looked up and saw Alexa had come with him.

"Oh, hi." He said, bending water out of the river and into a pouch he carried around. The dark haired girl smiled while picking up roots and herbs and putting them into her medical bag.

"Good morning" she said.

Mikey smiled too. "So what do you think if we made soup? we could use some of the vegetables Trixie brought back." Mikey suggestion after splashing his face with the cold morning water. He shook himself and looked around at the surrounding foliage.

"Wouldn't that take a while, though" she responded looking up from her medical bag.

"Maybe, but if Kira and Jake are going to be gone for a long time, I might as well take the time to make something. My mom taught me how to make soup a long time ago."

"Then sure, we can make soup the group needs to keep its energy up, especially the avatar"

Mikey nodded and looked through the bushes and trees till he found some shrubs. "This makes a good soup base. Its a bit plane but with all the stuff we'll be putting it it, it should be super good,"

"Lets see if Lexi will start a fire to get the water ready to add the ingredients" Alexa said picking some herbs from the ground to season the soup. Mikey nodded again and made his way back to the campsite with Alexa right behind him.

"Lexi, you shouldn't be pushing your firebending right now you are still hurt," Alexa said rushing to her friend.

"It's just bruising i'm fine," Lexi said, rolling her eyes.

"She should be trying to move." Mikey said quietly, "If she exercises at least a little, she won't be weaker when she heals. I learned that from my dad after I started my waterbending training." he added as he picked up the pots and pans from Kira's bag and setting them up.

"There's a difference between a little exercise but what she is doing is firebending she would use in a fight and her body isn't ready for that yet,"

"Alright alright, i'll just rest while the enemy could attack at anytime..."

Mikey scratched his head and bent the water in his bag into the pot and putting the stock in it. "Go ahead and get it boiling, I'm going to go get more water." he said as he walked back down to the river and left the two girls alone to talk. Lexi used her firebending to light the firewood and boil the water.

The Waterbender returned shortly after to find the girls talking, even laughing a little. He smiled at got the bag of vegetables and went through them. He looked at everything then looked at Alexa.

"Hey Alexa? What do think we should put in the mix?" He asked picking through the stock and stirring the boiling water.

"well depends... everyone has different preferences... like Lexi eats meat so... yea and if its a vegetable soup I'm not sure.." Alexa said rubbing her neck. Mikey sat back and thought.

"I still have wail-duck meat on me but its really blueberry, You can try it if you want. And Trixie, from the looks of everything she brings us, she's a vegetarian..."

"So why not make the soup with vegetables and whoever wants meat can go get it" she suggested.

Mikey nodded but he set out the wail-duck. "I case you do want it, Lexi. I was never a fan of it." He said as he got out the stuff and chopped up the vegetables and threw them into the pot.

Lexi poked at the strange meat, "Yeah I'm gonna go fish" she said sitting by the river.

Mikey nodded and sat by the pot and watched everything cook down.

"Man, this would be even better if we had some noodles to throw in," He said.

"maybe there is a town where we can get supplies, I've run low on bandages"

"Would you like me to check it out. If you don't mind watching the soup?" Mikey offered as he put his stuff back in a neat pile.

"It's okay as long as there are no other attacks until we reach a town" Lexi came back with a few fish on a stick and put the sticks close to the fire so the fish would cook.

"Okay, I'll be back pretty soon. I saw some med stores and food shops in Ba Sing Sei." Mikey said.

"That is a long walk back to the city"

Mikey stood for a second, then looked at Cinos. "Hey buddy!" he said scratching the wolf-cat behind the ears. "Hey if you run me into two, I'll feed you a slice of fumpkin!" Mikey said. Cinos perked his ears up and wagged his tail.

"Won't the uh-va-tar notice his pet is missing" lexi said biting into a fish.

"They won't be back before us!" Mikey said with a big smile, "We'll be gone and back before Jake and Kira get her,"

"Lets hope so"

Mikey hopped on Cinos' back and looked around, "Um, go? ... Run! ... Yeah!" Cinos didn't move.

"Hike-" Cinos took off before he could finish the word.

"He better be back i'm not dealing with a moody avatar" lexi said leaning against a tree.

An hour past, and No one came back. Finally the familiar heavy footsteps of Cinos came within earshot. Mikey hopped down from the wolf-cat with a large bag at his side.

"See?" He said, being with joy. "I got back before the Avatar. and I got plenty of bandages, and noodles!"

"Looks like the sun is going to set.. I wonder if Kira crushed uhvatar" Lexi said, "I kept watch last night someone else's turn"

"I'll do it," Mikey said after throwing the noodles in. Just then the bushes rustled and the two earthbenders returned.

"Whoa... Something smells good," Kira said,

"Guess he didn't crush him" lexi said while reheating one of her fish.

"Kira couldn't harm a fly even if he tried..." Jake said sitting next to cinos and patting him on the head.

"You say that cause I'm just going easy on you..." Kira replied.

"Having a hard time there uh-va-tar"

"No." Jake shot. "Worry about yourself..."

"calm down, dont be a jerkbender"

Mikey chuckled a little. "Jerkbender, that's a new one!" he said.

"I think the soup is done waterbender" Lexi said pointing to the boiling pot.

"I know, I know" Mikey said plucking the lid from the pot. He quickly bent the steam away so it didn't burn his face. He pulled a noodle out to check it, but gave a devilish grin, "Hey Jake!"

Jake looked and Mikey right as the noodle slapped onto his lip, giving him a mustache.

"I wouldn't push him he could go uhvatar state on you,"

Jake simply took the noodle off and gave it to Cinos who happily took the treat.

"Sorry, I don't think I'm going to lose my cool here..." Jake said picking up a bowel. "What is that, by the way?" he asked, out of a hint of curiosity and how good it smelled.

"It's soup Alexa and I threw together!" Mikey said with a grin.

"I pray to the spirits it tastes as good as it smells..." Jake said as he put some in his bowl. Mikey filled the bowls and passed them around, just in time for Trixie to come back with a small pouch of water.

"Hay something smells good," she said.

"That's what kira said too." Mikey laughed. he handed her a bowl and a spoon.

"It's just a veggie based noodle soup!" The waterbender said. "What do you think Jake?"

"I hate it." Jake said.

"Then why are you stuffing your face?"

"People who are hungry don't turn down free food" Lexi said getting up and walking towards the forest.

"No, I like it..." Jake said quietly, "Sorry, I'm just grumpy right now..."

Mikey smiled and looked at Lexi, "Where you going?"

"There's a shallow pool of water in the forest, I'm going to take a bath" she said over her shoulder.

"Oh okay." Mikey said as he ate his soup. Cinos was sniffing the air with a shine in his eyes. Kira rolled his eyes and gave him a bowel too.

"He'll eat anything you put infront of him won't he?" Trixie said with a cute smile.

"Yeah, most the time. He so picky though." Kira said.

"Well, looks like he loves Mikey and Alexa's soup,"

"Heh.. Mikey's the one who made it I just helped find the herbs"

"Yes, but the spices you picked out made it so good. I didn't even know about some of the things you added." the waterbender said with a grin.

"It's not much but I'm glad I could be of some help to the group..."

"Yea, thanks Alexa," Trixie said. "The salt and the spice bring out the pulp of the vegetables." Alexa nodded and sat back a little from the group hugging her knees.

Mikey gathers the dishes and washed everything before setting himself up and looking around. "Well... I have the night watch. I'll scream like a girl if that Darkfire guy comes back."

"I'm sure Lexi will end up taking the night shift so you should rest, that's just how she is"

"I'm going to at least try to stay up. I said I'd watch this time. If she comes back and stays up, I'll crash,"

"Oh she needs to change her bandage, I'll be right back" Alexa said grabbing her back and running off in the direction Lexi left in. Mikey smiled and watched the others fall asleep. Jake fed Cinos the last of the soup and Kira was already crashed. Trixie had snuggled into her white sleeping bag and he felt the tug of sleep tempt him. Mike shook his head and stayed up, and waiting for Lexi and Alexa to come back.

Alexa came back with her bag and sat near the fire.

Further off as you crossed the land the green life turned to a black wasteland. A mountain resembling a twisted castle stood.

"Could you hold still?" a black figure said.

"No, I will not!" came the shrieking voice of Darkfire. The black figure wrapping Darkfire's chest resembled a mummy, with black bandages and glowing red eyes. His white hair spilled out in strongly asymmetrical strands.

"If you plan on taking over Fire Nation and become the Firelord, you need to be at full health... This blind pursuit of the Avatar will be the end of you..."

"But the Avatar-"

"You can have the Avatar's head brought to you on a silver platter once you take the Fire Nation."

Darkfire glared, "Yes, but how do I take control with the girl I am to marry if she's run away..."

"The nation will have sent out their troops to find her..." The mummy man said.

"ACH! Hey! That still burns!" Darkfire screamed, gnashing his teeth.

"Well, I'm sorry, we do have drag a medical supplies..."

Darkfire glared darkly and turned to a picture frame. A burnt picture sealed inside of two kids playing. His eyes burned with blood red fury as he shot black flames all over the place. His servant ducked to avoid the dangerous blows.

"What is with you and that photo?"

Darkfire glared at him. "It was from my childhood. The one good thing that I ever had before it had to move away to the upper class world, all I have left of someone I used to be friends with..."

"Ah yes, back when you were Kerugarn-"

"Never mention that name again!"

He looked down, his eyes low, as his mind began to drift.

**The following is a flashback**

* * *

"I don't think I will ever be able to fire bend..." a red haired boy said as he sat on a sandy beach watching the waves wash over the rocks and sand.

"Sure you will," came the voice of a little girl from behind him, "you just have to try harder"

"Do you really think so, Lexi?"

"Sure you will! I'm not much older then you and I can firebend so there is no reason you can't, have more confidence in yourself"

The young boy smiled and got up. "You're right," he said looking off to where an old shack sat. "I wish Aunt Eleanor believed in me like you did, sometimes I think she hates having to watch me."

"Then come live with me dummy" Lexi said putting her hands on her hips.

"Are you sure your mom and dad wouldn't mind?" He asked.

"I'll hide you!" Lexi said grabbing his hand and dragging him off to her family's estate. They both laughed as they snuck around.

"Do you think I'd get accepted into a bending school some day if my bending got better?" He asked looking up at Lexi.

"Only if you're really good and train hard"

"Then that's what I'll do."

"I practice everyday, and soon I'll join the united forces and go on mind blowing adventures, I am special after all" Lexi said smirking confidently.

"You're going to be the best Fire Nation Soldier ever, Lexi." the young boy said. Lexi grinned and looked at him.

"Hey, I never really caught your name the other day, what is it?"

"I'm Kerugarn."

"Thats a weird name.." Lexi grinned.

"Yea, I know."

"Don't you get made fun of for it?"

"Some times but I know that my name has meaning, and it can't be taken away, or struck down."

"Oh yeah smart guy, what does it mean then"

"'Dragon's Fire'. My dad named me after a dragon and it's fire basically,"

"I thought dragons were all extinct for except maybe the original masters" Lexi said while opening her hand and looking at the blue flames in her hand.

"Yea, I heard there are other original masters, black dragons. I don't know if their real. But my aunt would tell stories of benders with black fire given to them by the dark original masters... I think its just a scary story though..."

"That's just an old story adults tell to scare kids, you shouldn't believe everything you hear, even if their was darkbenders, the fire lord or avatar Korra would have gotten rid of them, great grandmother once saw the avatar she said it was amazing"

"Yea I figured that's what would happen..." Kerugarn said looking down.

"The strongest bender that isn't an avatar is blue fire firebenders, the fire is hotter, even though people usually think of Azula when they think of that kind of power... But you know.. I think she went crazy because she was a prodigy and had to impress fire lord Ozai and not dishonor their family..."

"I think blue fire is beautiful."

"It's not that great, look" Lexi said before standing up and showing off her firebending, "its hard to control and deadly, especially lightning bending I'd rather be a non-bender"

"Why's that? Bending is something great, I think it was given to us to protect non-benders."

"What about bad benders, like blood-benders... Thats not protecting non-benders"

"Sometimes people just find ways to hurt others with their gifts..."

"Exactly, there's too many bad people in the world for bending to exist" Lexi said walking off. Kerugarn sighed and looked out across the ocean...

The sudden shock from the memory shot Darkfire into back into a wall. Holding his head as he glared at the photo. Slowly his expression changed as he stood upright.

"I had better pay the firelord a visit sometime soon..." he said as he stepped outside his realm of darkness. As he did, a disguised formed around him. His hair turning a rich cherry blonde and his eyes turning amber.

Lexi sat the pool of water, combing out her blond locks, "I still don't believe... Dark bending is a old story grandmother told to keep me in line" she said quietly sinking under the water to rinse out her hair. When she came back up, something had changed in the atmosphere. Someone or something was there with her. Her fists engulfed in fire, " Alright.. Show yourself"

The being stepped from the bushes and walked past. He didn't look at Lexi but something about his appearance make Lexi's mind go back to her childhood. She knew those cherry blond locks anywhere... She shook off the feeling and glared.

"Alright, I'll give you five seconds before I hurt you"

"You would hurt a Fire Nation Captain?" he said turning to look at her. His amber eyes burned into her blue eyes.

"I've studied every captain since I was a child...You're no captain I've ever seen before... Besides the youngest captain was Iroh before he became Fire Lord,"

"Oh well maybe I'm a newly ranked captain? I have the badge the prove it too. I'm Captain Kerugarn..." he said narrowing his eyes.

"Then why are you outside of Ba Sing Sei... There were not Military orders to be here..."

"There weren't? Sounds oddly familiar to they way I lost a close friend... But that's long and over... What ever... I'm heading back to the firelord to see if they've found the girl I've been pared with yet. I'm engaged, so if you don't mind... I best get back to him," Kerugarn said turning to leave again.

"THE FIRE LORD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT GIRL," Lexi yelled enraged at the young "soldier". He glared over his shoulder... Her turned slowly and cocked his head to one side.

"I know that fiery anger anywhere... Would your name just so happen to be 'Lexi Flame'?" He asked.

"No, no it isn't, besides I heard that girl is never returning to the fire nation... At least that was the rumor going around the city when I was there"

"You can't fool me Lexi..." Kerugarn said crossing his arms. "Don't you remember that ocean house where you hid me from your mom and dad... You were the reason I became a strong firebender, but you never stuck around to see me succeed at all... Instead you ran off with the rich kids and left me at the deserted beach."

"You're that boy... It isn't my fault I went to advanced firebending academies, it's not my fault my parents raised me to stay where they would know I was safe, you could've left the beach and done what you wanted, YOU choose your fate, not me," Lexi said while the water she stood in slowly began to boil due to lexi's temper.

"You're right..." he said, holding out his hand with a small ball of black flame. "I did chose my own fate... And the outcome has been fruitful..."

"You, you moved to Republic City, YOU abandoned me, I was always there, you got mad because I learned firebending faster, I never left, YOU did"

"If it meant that much then why didn't you stop me from leaving! After I worked so hard to become as good of a fire bender as you, I was offered a choice, to stay with you or become a better bender. I was never allowed to chose for myself that day. My aunt became obsessed with my bending, and you could say she 'fueled the flame' when she told me what Korra did to my mom and dad..."

"You became obsessed with your bending as soon as you could it was always, "I don't have time to play, I have to train" EVERY DAY, that's all that happened... You couldn't handle that I was and still am a better bender then you were or will ever be... Your heart darkened just like the fire you bend..." Lexi said turning her back to him, mainly to hide her crying

"I will make things right between us..." Kerugarn said darkly, "When the Avatar has breathed his last breath, I'll show you how to control black fire as I have learned."

"You forget old friend... I am training the avatar... I protect him.. I will not allow harm to come to him, keep your black fire.. it's not the type of bending that counts... It's the person who bends... Never forget that I am the prodigy, you got lucky..."

Kerugarn's disguise was melting away to Darkfire, his dark flames lining his arms and legs. He looked like he was about to attack. But the horrific sound of every cell in his body freezing stopped him. His eyes rolled back and he let out a silent scream. The crystal eyes moved up to see a full moon. A bloodbender was near.

In that single moment, Lexi and Darkfire's minds went back in time. A boat departing from Fire nation and a young girl running down the dock. Tears steaming as she watched the ship leave with a boy leaning over the rail, staring back at her. A single tear escaped the amber eyes.

The sound of bones cracked ripped them both back to reality, and Darkfire was forced to his knees, allowing Lexi to see the bloodbender just behind him. She froze.

"Mikey..."

The waterbenders eyes were filled with hate and anger. "You rat!" He screamed. "After everything she gave you... After she just gave you her heart, you left her! You took what was truth and turned it right back at her, trying to blame her for YOUR pain!" Clearly, Mikey cared about Lexi, but was too moved, he couldn't think clearly.

"You should be ashamed! Get out of here, if I see you come near Jake, or Lexi, I WILL BEND YOUR ARMS OFF!" he shouted as he released Darkfire. The darkbender immediately retreated into his black flames that took him far away. Mikey stood there for a second. Breather head.

Then the shock hit him, his eyes wide as he stared at Lexi. Tears streamed down his face as her cover his eyes.

"No.. No, I'm so sorry!" he said as he turned and ran.

"DONT... don't go.." Lexi sniffled shaking, "You have to warn Jake... He's gonna go after the fire lord... I... I have to stop him"

"I can't be trusted..." Mikey said quietly, "You saw, you saw me! I'm a monster. I can't let anyone know I'm a bloodbender." Lexi lunged at him and clung to him.

"Don't leave me here" she said crying into the waterbenders chest. Mikey looked down at her, surprised she had opened up to him. "He was my friend... But it's my fault... I should have run faster to get to the boat... I shouldn't have let him go crazy with his bending.. It was my job to take care of him and I failed... If I can't do that how am I supposed to protect and train the uh-va-tar" she muttered.

"It's not your fault, Lexi... Darkfire wanted to become a powerfull bender, and his lust for that power changed him... If there's anything left of Kerugarn in that cold shell... We'll get him back somehow..." Mikey said as he picked up a towel and wrapped it around Lexi to cover her.

"We can't get him back... That's the power of dark bending... It corrupts your heart... I learned about darkbending at the academy... I would have to destroy him to save him from it... we have to warn the fire lord..."

Mikey nodded slowly and looked at her. "Lexi... Please don't tell the others... That I'm a bloodbender... I don't want to dishonor my father..."

"Y..You saved my life... There is nothing dishonorable about that,"

"I know it's just... When my father discovered me and my sister could bloodbend. He told us to never pursue it... My sister trained secretly, I caught on naturally... One day my sister was arrested for killing someone with her bending... I promised myself, I'd never hurt someone with my power."

"But don't you think atleast Jake should know..." Lexi said picking up her clothes from the ground.

"I'm not sure. He already doesn't trust me, I've seen the way he glares at me. I'll tell him when I think he should really know. For now, let's tell the others what Darkfire is up to..."

"He doesn't distrust you... He's like I am he's not being thrown with a bunch of strangers... Okay?"

"Okay..." Mikey said quietly looking down. The pair walked back to the camp and woke the others.

"I think we need to go to the fire nation from here..." Lexi said before relighting the fire.

"Are you sure?" Kira asked, rubbing his eyes. He looked like he wasn't a 'wake up at three in the morning' guy. Trixie and Jake looked sleepy too, but Jake seemed more alive when Lexi said they needed to go to the fire nation.

"Yes.. I fear someone may try and overthrow the fire lord... I won't let that happen" Lexi said darkly.

"Okay... We'll leave first thing in the morning..." Kira said yawning.

"No, we should leave now!" Mikey said.

"Boats don't come in or out till morning..."

"Then I will waterbend us there!"

"No...I should do this alone... I started this I'm going to finish it" Lexi said grabbing her bag, "I'll train the avatar when I get back... My nation comes first" she said starting to walk off.

"Lexi..." Mikey said quietly watching her go.

"You have to do what alone?" Jake asked quietly.

"Protect the Fire Lord,"

"Lexi you don't really think you can just leave me behind," Alexa said holding her bag over her shoulder smiling at her friend, "Whether you like it or not, we are all a team and if we lose you the Avatar can't finish his training."

"Alexa..."

Cinos had come over to Lexi and placed his muzzle in her hand, wagging his tail.

"Alexa is right," Trixie said getting up and packing her things. Slowly but surely, Kira and Jake did the same.

"You guys...It's dangerous what I'm going to do..."

"Well then it's a long journey you can train the avatar on the way" Alexa said patting her friend's shoulder.

Jake picked up everyone's packs and placed them on hooks on Cinos' saddle.

"Fine just don't get in my way" Lexi said smiling while looking down

Everyone nodded and the new Team Avatar made their way down the life changing road they chose to walk.


	4. Chp What A Team Is For

Lexi wondered about how they were going to get to the fire nation since fire nation boats weren't always welcoming to non fire nation passengers. Mikey looked up at the slowly rising sun. He had been twitchy since Lexi saw him bloodbend the darkbender

"So how do we get on the boat?"

"Do you really think they'll turn away the Avatar and his trainers?" Kira asked looking back at Mikey.

"Yes... The fire nation is very... concerned with its safety... But if you found the missing girl they would have to let you on the ship." Lexi said thoughtfully.

"Oh? Oh yeah." Trixie said. Kira nodded. Jake was silent as usual. He rode on Cinos' back to make sure their things didn't fall off.

"I'll be right back," Lexi said running off, she came back dressed in a traditional fire nation upper class dress. "Alright you guys just have to be convincing and make them think you found me and are taking me home" she said. Kira nodded and walked up to a ship trading goods with Ba Sing Sei.

"Didn't think I'd be going home this quickly but whatever"

"Well, at least you'll be able to train jake a bit better." Kira said with a shrug.

"I suppose... I just hope we aren't too late,"O

"I know..." Mikey said just strolling onto the ship with some angry firebenders following him.

Alexa looked around the boat, "we should find the captain"

"Agreed." Kira said.

"Come on guys" Alexa said walking off towards the captain's cabin.

The others followed as they looked around. Alexa knocked on the captain's door and waited.

"What is it" the captain said opening the door adjusting his uniform.

"Hello sir, we need help getting back to the fire nation with Lexi here, it's kind of urgent we go right now." Mikey said.

"Lexi Elizabeth Flame.. you know there's a whole fleet looking for you"

"Yes... Yes I know Captain Derek it's good to see you again" she said smiling.

Mikey went to sit down and watch the water.

"Come let me show you and your friends to your cabins" Derek said wrapping his arm around Lexi's shoulder and waving for the group to follow.

"You have always been one to flirt Derek" Lexi said laughing.

"Derek? THE Captain Derek! Wow, thats pretty cool, I heard about you all the way at my tribe, you were trained by Iroh right? Or was that someone else?" Mikey said scratching his head.

"That was my father who was trained by the great general, I was trained by my father and the masters at the united forces academy"

"Stop showing off Derek" Lexi said shaking her head. Lexi opened the door to the teams cabin.

"Welcome to the lap of fire nation luxury" Lexi said setting her bag on one of the beds in the room.

"Wow..." Mikey said sitting on a bed. "Pretty cool!"

"Lexi you and your friends must join in on the feast tonight as my personal guests"

"That's just you asking for a date.. Again" Lexi said looking at her friends waiting for their answers.

"Sure, as long as it's not too crazy we'll come," Kira said looking at Jake.

"Heh... Fire nation feast aren't exactly calm.." Lexi said punching Derek in the shoulder" Go drive the ship Derek"

"Well then bring on the par-teh!" Mikey said with a grin before falling asleep on the bed.

"He never changes..." lexi said sitting on a bed.

"So what's the thing between you and him? How did you two meet?" Kira asked.

"well.. As you know I am from a wealthy fire nation family, and when I started excelling in firebending I was sent to advanced academies... Well I met Derek when I was young he is two years older than I, when we were older we had a... Relationship but now we are friends and I guess he became a captain like he said he would.."

"He used to call her fire-lily" Alexa said giggling.

"That's sweet," Trixie said.

"It would be except when I was little I sneezed in his mothers lily garden and they caught on fire..."

"That's... Did she get mad?" Kira asked.

"No cause strangely the fire since it's blue it changed the flowers and turned them blue and red and made the flowers had a fire pattern on them, so the nation just calls them fire lilies"."

"Wow, that's pretty cool,"

"I guess so"

Mikey yawned and rolled over.

Lexi looked at the vase of fire lilies in the room then looked out the window..

"Well, I'm going to relax for a moment before things get exciting."

"I think I'm going to walk around the ship" Lexi said walking out of the room.

They all nodded and allowed themselves time to rest and catch up on their sleep.

Jake sat up with the others while waiting for this party that was planned. Lexi came back and walked in the room "Well... The feast is ready so... Yea" Lexi said rubbing her arms.

"I'll stay here," Jake said. "I'm not a crowd person..."

"That's fine.. It is sort of formal so... I got you guys some clothes" Lexi said bringing in several upper class fire nation outfits..

Mikey sat up and looked at them,"Well... Katara wore fire nation clothes. I'll try it.."

"You don't have to it's just a respect thing" Lexi said closing the door and walking to the feast hall.

Kira looked at Mikey and the put the fire nation clothes on.

"Formal attire is a bit stiff..." Mikey said.

Kira buttoned up his clothes, and looked in the mirror. "Well, we'll look good, and we'll appear respectful."

Alexa walked in from the girls side of the cabin with her red and gold dress on "Be respectful, and try to have fun... The fire nation isn't as bad as the stories" Alexa said kind of with a stern look on her face.

"Okay," Mikey said.

"Come on we shouldn't be late"

"Okay, I hope I don't trip in these," Mikey said as he picked up his coat and put it around his hips.

Lexi sat at the biggest table next to captain Derek waiting for her teammates. "This won't go well"

Kira sat down in a chair and looked around. Someone looked at Mikey's coat around his hips and made a comment about it not being formal.

"And... There it goes" Lexi said resting her head in her hands.

"What?" Mikey asked as he sat down. "Is it my coat? Sorry, but it doesn't feel right leaving it behind..."

"No its fine" Derek stood up with his class and spoke.

"The fire nation can sleep well as our missing fire-lily has been returned to our care" He said winking at Lexi as the other fire nation citizens raised their glasses in celebration. "Let the feast begin" He said as the chefs brought out enough food to feed the entire fire nation army.

Trixie looked at the food and looked for the vegetarian stuff. The others looked up, surprised to see Jake join them. Kira smiled and looked at Mikey who looked ever so slightly lost. Lexi sunk down in her seat as people lined up to ask why she ran away, if she was going back to get married, and where she had been hiding.

Jake looked a little agitated from the commotion and he sat up looking at the people.

"Give her space!" He said. "She's going back to train me, I'm the Avatar..."

"I'm sorry, guys but please I will answer your questions later please just back away from the table and enjoy your feast" Lexi said in a sophisticated manner.

"Yea, so step off..." Mikey said very quietly, trying to not offend anyone. Lexi glanced at him and saw the stress bulding up in his eyes. She didn't want him to bloodbend flip out. Although the night had passed and the moon was gone, she still didn't know if the waterbender had the ability to bloodbend at anytime, like Yakone could.

Lexi stood leaving her food untouched and walked through the crowd of people to answer their questions. Mikey relaxed when the groups moved away.

"I had forgotten that Lexi was the unofficial fire princess of the fire nation" Alexa said getting up to assist her friend.

"Oh..." Mikey said looking up. His eyes widened as he looked at a plate. "Oh my gosh! Are those... Clam-snails!" Mikey asked

"Only the best for fire-lily and her friends" Derek said taking a sip from his tea.

Mikey smiled wide and took a small plate full, "My mom cooked these all the time, I love them!"

Lexi came back and sat in her seat, "I apologize for that"

"Perfectly fine," Mikey said while eating his food. "So do you guys import water tribe food somethings? Cause if there's seaweed noodles here, their mine!"

"Not really, because most fire nation doesn't know what they are" Lexi answered picking at her food..

"Well, they're hard to miss. They're always a dark green the the seaweed we get at the water tribe."

Lexi nodded and played with the fire-lily in her hair. Mikey nodded and finished his meal and sat back. Kira had found some apples and was eating some.

"Oh how rude of me, Derek this is the avatar" Lexi said pointing at Jake.

"Hey..." Jake said uncomfortably, waving a little. Kira looked over and watching the others.

"Come on uhvatar, you still need to learn firebending... Or at least how to control it," Lexi said getting up and walking to a non crowded part of the ship. Jake had gotten up with her and followed.

"Alright attack me, come at me uhvatar I'll go easy on you I promise"

Jake nodded and got into one of the firebending stances. Then he suddenly threw a punch of flames at her, aiming for her head. Lexi grabbed his hand and pushed him back.

"Come on, be fiery if you can get in touch with the fire with in you there's no way you can bend fire" Lexi said sending a powerful wave of fire towards him.

The Avatar ducked her attack and pried away from her grasp. "And the fire within me would be..."

"It's the fighter inside of you! It's knowing you can be deadly but also be gentle with your fire bending" Lexi said rushing at him.

He dashed forward and made an attempt to shoot blazes of fire from his fists, but couldn't quite control them. The flares spread everywhere.

Lexi backed up from the spartic flames, "Can you control your anger uhvatar... If you can't control your emotions then you can't control this" Lexi said using her fire to rocket towards him.

"I'm trying, okay? It's not exactly easy for me!" Jake absentmindedly spewed smoke from his mouth as he retorted back. Kira had walked over to watch. Mikey was watching too, but he lost interest and explored the ship.

"Alright when you get really angry what do you do to control yourself?" Lexi asked trying to think of a way to get through to him.

Jake gave her a dull glare. "What do you think I do?" Jake questioned, folding his arms. "I take my anger out with Earthbending. Sometimes with Cinos helping me."

"How can I get through to you? Here, think of it this way, the faster you'll learn the less you have to hear me nag; now come on. Fire and earth take power, but what would happen if you couldn't control your earthbending?" Lexi said sitting down patting the floor next to her.

Jake looked at the floor for a second before he sat down. Exhaling, he murmured "I don't know. I mean, I know what you're trying to tell me, but it's just... hard."

Lexi nodded "I know it is... Trust me I didn't understand it at first either.. Here try with smaller amounts of fire like this" she said as a small flame appeared in her hand, "Look see, just try and keep it under your control" she said passing the little flame to him.

Jake stared at it and held the flame carefully in his hand. He was visibly struggling with the flame as it danced in his hand, growing a little stronger at times and weaker other times.

"Think about the fire, nothing else," Kira said from his seat. "Block everything out..."

"He is right uhvatar... And would you like to teach him firebending Kira" Lexi said turning to him.

"I taught him his earthbending, so I think I know him well enough that some of the things I thought him would help him with the other elements. If you can get him to feel the element like he does with earth, it will come naturally..." Kira said.

"except you can physically feel the earth not everyone can go around touching fire..." Lexi pointed out.

"Not what I meant," Kira said, "When we earthbenders feel the earth, it's not just rock and dirt and mud... We feel the vibrations and the energy with our chi. There is energy in fire, if he can feel it, he can channel it..."

"He's right," Jake added quietly, "It may be different with fire, but the bending concepts are kind of similar in that way."

"Lets just see how long he can carry that fire around."

"It isn't that he can't carry or keep the fire going, he is doing fine with that... But fine..." Lexi sighed getting up off the floor.

"I watched you guys train, I think all he needs is to learn to channel his chi and his emotions, that's that's all. He catches onto the stances just fine from what I've seen, chi and emotion runs in his family from what I learned..."

Lexi bit her lip and crossed her arms to keep her temper from erupting into volcano of rage. "He has the stances down... And the bending itself... Just... No never mind," she said silencing herself.

"Sorry, I'll go to bed. I wasn't meaning to make you teach the way I did, just remember some of the things I said, he'll get it..." Kira said getting up and going to the boy's cabin.

"Its not that at all," lexi said making the fire on the candle grow to take some of her anger off. Mikey was sitting nearby watching.

"what's he expect I told him I'm not a master... I can't teach other people firebending seeing as I started on my own... Spirits I'm such a failure," she said more to herself than anybody.

"Lexi," Jake called, standing up as he did so. He walked over to her, saying "Look, just... Don't mind Kira... He's only trying to help. And you're not a failure, we're both trying our best right now, and that's all we can do... I guess I'm trying to tell you to stop being hard on yourself, all right?"

"No I am.. look at me I'm not a strong enough bender to teach the avatar...much less anybody" she said, "I'm not even done with my training so how can I teach you of all people,"

"That's not true Lexi, just teach Jake the way you taught yourself!" Mikey said. "That's what my dad did, he was self taught too!" Mikey saw a look in Lexi's eyes and he frownd

"Are you worried about that thing that happened before we woke the others up?..."

Jake slinked away, adding "I think my firebending can wait. I, uh, need to check up on Kira anyway."

"Wait, before you go, we- I should tell you something, Jake..." Mikey said looking back at Lexi.

Jake gave a curious look to Mikey. "Okay... go for it."

"Last night Lexi was attacked by the darkbender... I stopped him... By bloodbending him..."

Jake's expression turned from curious to incredulous. "What? That guy tried to attack one of our group again?" He questioned, his voice rising with each word. "Damn it! Are you guys all right?"

Mikey seemed surprised at his concern. "Yea, I stopped him before he could hurt anyone..."

"It's not that big a deal... Just some rogue bender who's lost it..." Lexi whispered.

"He's why we're going to the fire nation, Darkfire was planning to do something to the fire lord... Try not to tell any of the others, we don't need anyone to freak out." Mikey added. Jake nodded in agreement.

"Here's the plan..we'll find Jake a new fire bending master then you guys get out of here... I will take down darkfire on my own," Lexi said clenching her fists.

Jake chuckled bitterly "Yeah, not so fast there, Lexi. Don't think me or Mikey, or even anyone else from our team is going to let you face this alone. You're not getting away from us that easily."

"I swear... You don't understand if he becomes fire lord he will demand your head Avatar... Besides this is my battle and you can't even fully firebend you can't go up against darkbending!"

"Oh, I understand perfectly well. But I'm telling you that you're not facing this alone. You don't have to. I admit, I can firebend just as well as you can airbend, but there's strength in numbers. If you just let other people help you, then the situation would go a lot easier."

"And what if we just chi blocked Darkfire? We could temporarily block out his bending! No black fire, no danger. I know how much that black lightning hurt, but he won't get the same jump on me this time." Mikey said.

"You can't stop darkbending like that... I have to destroy him, I created this monster I will be the one to fix it, I'm the only one who can redirect lightning, besides...this team doesn't need me, it would be better this way for everyone!" Lexi argued, "Then you all go train the avatar but do it with a master not some spoiled fire princess... Its what you all think anyway so just accept that I'm doing this alone" she said putting her hands on her hips.

Jake growled "You really need to stop saying things like that. We have that perception of you at all, and you know it. We need you Lexi, not just because of my training, but because of- well, us. We all need you. Right Mikey?" Jake turned to him.

"yea... When we got on this ship, I saw other strong firebenders, and i felt irritated. I thought there was no way any of them were worthy of training Jake. After spending a night with you all, I've come to care about everyone, even the grumpy Kira! He's pretty cool,"

(jenae: brb)

"I'm not letting you guys do this if I have to put you on the other boat myself!"

"Go ahead, we won't give up though." Jake shrugged.

"Yeah," Mikey added before heading back to the boy's cab with Jake.

"GIVE UP ALREADY"

Jake turned his head to look at her before walking away. He smirked "M'mm... No thanks, it's too much fun getting on your nerves like this." and left.

Lexi sat there for a minuet before blowing wildly fire bending, her anger had snapped and caused her to snap. "we'll see who goes where.." she said storming off to find Derek and to get him to turn the ship around .


	5. Chp 5 Lightbending

"WAKE UP!" Mikey hollered in the men's cab, banging a spoon and a pan together. Cinos nearly went through the roof from the sudden wake up call. Jake instantly sat up and stared with a shocked look at Mikey before he soon realized what was happening. He then plopped back down with a tired moan.

"Hay yo! People! Anyone else notice that our cabs are on a random island!" Mikey shout. Kira sat up and opened the door. Jake muttered something unintelligible and slowly got up with Kira. Mikey pointed frantically at a random city he didn't even know. Kira shook his head and looked around.

"No... She dumped us at Republic City!"

"... She..." Jake then spoke gibberish for a second as his eyes squinted at the city, still waking up out of sleep. " What is it...?"

"It's Republic City, the place founded by Avatar Aang." Kira said stepping out and looking at the girls cab, he knocked on it and waited.

Alexa opened the door then tried to shut it "I'm sorry you guys..." she said through the closed door.

"what did Lexi do?" Kira asked.

"She made sure you guys wouldn't interfere with her and protecting the fire lord... She got on another ship and had Derek drop us off here..." Alexa said her voice becoming softer with each word.

"We'll see about that." Mikey said marching down the dock and up to another boat port to the fire nation. He was talking to the guards when they bent the earth under his feet and launched him out into the ocean. But the waterbender was stubborn and he marched RIGHT on back, soaking wet.

"Guys don't... No one in fire nation will give you passage... Lexi's orders... She's already in the fire nation... This is her way of saying she cares about you.. She doesn't want you to get hurt and she doesn't want to slow down Jake's training so she sent you where there were master firebenders... She means well please don't be too angry with her.." Alexa pleaded quietly.

Mikey came back and looked at Jake. "How fast can Cinos run on ice? If he can manage, I can freeze a path to the fire nation..."

Jake looked at Cinos. "Well, lets find out. Are you up for it, boy?" Jake asked, gesturing for Cinos to come over to him. Cinos wagged his tail and and sat himself near Jake.

"Unfortunately, no one is going to interfere with Master Darkfire's plans..." Came a voice. The group of eyes worked their way up to see the man in black mummy wraps. His red eyes narrowing at the group. Two other dark figures were behind him.

"Oh, and are you going to stop us, mummy man?" Mikey taunted.

"Yes infact..."

"We don't have time for Darkfire's misfits..." Kira said, "Besides we have the Avatar, what are you going to do to stop him?"

"It will be easy, considering how weak and pathetic he is,"

Kira's eyes narrow and he drew his lips back in anger. The adult earthbender came at them tearing up the rocks from under the water. There was a flash of black water and the sound of flash freezing. Mikey backed off when he saw the black water.

The rocks fell away and they saw Kira was encased in in a sheet of black ice.

Jake looked at Kira in shock, this time wide awake. He turned his gaze to the mummy man, eyes ablaze with fury, almost literally. "You... You get him out of there right now!" He shouted almost to a scream. Although his voice was low while yelling, it was powerful enough to easily become fearful of.

"And what are you going to do if I don't, unvatar?"

Then, Jake completely lost it. His hands were lit with large blazes of fire, flames bouncing off his hands and spreading rapidly. His breathing even became shaky as he glared at the mummy's eyes with the intent of death upon them. He then remembered that getting Kira out of the ice was the most important thing right now, so he simply opened one of his clenched fists and released a fury of fire upon the block.

Kira fell back and gasped for air. He quickly regained his strength and jumped up running back.

Jake never lost contact with the mummy's red slit-like eyes, which he felt like burning to a crisp along with the rest of the monster's being. Jake rushed towards his enemy using fire to launch himself faster, the dark being had no time to react to the Avatar and had to go hand to hand with him. Attempting to freeze him like he did to Kira, but the fire that Jake put off was almost as hot as blue fire. Throughout the whole ordeal, even with his seemingly unstable fit of rage, Jake could actually control his flames this time instead of losing it.

Mikey watched with wide excited eyes, "He's bending FIRE!"

The darkbenders couldn't hand Jake's attacks and they took off into the water disappearing into a black dark sludge. After they left, Jake had hurried over to Kira's side, hastily looking him over in care.

"Dad, dad, are you all right?" Jake interrogated with a hint of fear in his voice.

"I'm fine... Just getting air back in my lungs..." Kira said. The others had dropped jaw and were staring at Kira and jake.

"Hold the telegraph!" Mikey said, "Kira is your dad!"

Jake almost didn't notice Mikey's question as he was too concerned with Kira's welfare. He turned his head to Mikey at the last second and mumbled a response. "Um, what? Yeah..."

"Wow, this whole time! Wow, I see the resemblance now," Mikey said.

"Yea," Kira said getting up, holding his chest, breathing hard as he was regaining his energy, "That was terrifying... Don't let that happen or I'll smack you,"

Cinos pressed his muzzle to Kira's hand, also concerned for the earthbender.

Jake gave a slightly worried smile at Kira. "Okay Da- err, Kira..."

Kira nodded and looked at the city. "We may as well make the best of this... We'll need to get some food and see what we can do about getting to the fire nation."

Jake looked at the city as well. He pondered for a second, recollecting his thoughts, When all of a sudden, he asked "Has anyone seen Trixie...?"

Mikey looked back at the girls cart and looked inside, Trixie wasn't there, he looked at Alexa with a confused face.

"maybe she went into the city to gather supplies... do we really need to go to the fire nation, because now Jake can fire bend... would it make more sense for him to go onto the next element..." she asked genuinely wondering if it was still wise to bother lexi further.

"Yea unless his airbending trainer was in the fire nation," Kira said. showing them a note from Trixie.

Alexa sighed, she had really hoped that the group would leave Lexi alone like she wanted to be. She knew her friend wouldn't beable to do her mission with the group following her every move.

"I don't want to leave her to the mercy of Darkfire..." Mikey said. "We'll take care of our needs before we head out... And if Trixie followed Lexi, we'll have to find her and make sure she was okay."

"What is this perception of Lexi you all seem to have... Do you really think she can't fight her own battles... Even if Trixie wasn't there you would all go... Why... Why anger mi lady any further... She's not helpless and she doesn't need a knight... Or knights in battle armor to rescue her... So why pursue her any further..." Alexa asked the whole group.

They were quiet for a moment, but mikey spoke up.

"Cause she's my friend... And Darkfire has some way of getting to Lexi, and I don't want to see her killed by that monster! He's way too strong for just one warrior."

"you see that is where you are wrong you guys have known lexi for maybe let's say four days... You have never really seen her be herself or seen her truly show what an amazing bender she is... So please think about that if you were her would you wanted to be treated like a glass doll like she has been all her life... Or would you want the chance to branch out... we should still go to encourage her but not interfere with her personal battles" Alexa said shaking her head before sitting on the beach.

"Then I'll go and be there for her... If she dies... Or loses... Our team will be incomplete..." Mikey replied as he picked up all his bag and started going into the city.

Kira hesitantly followed Mikey. Jake lingered for a while, sympathetically looking at Alexa before taking off after his buddies with Cinos right on his heels.

"Alexa, we'll be right back okay, you can come too if you want," Mikey called to her.

Alexa simply nodded looking a the fire-lily that lexi had worn just the day before, she sighed before putting it into her hair.

Later, when they got to into the city, the group stopped at the square to think over what they were doing for lunch.

"I'm so hungry..." Mikey said. Cinos grumbled while laying on his back as if to say 'You could say that again...'

"Complaining won't make it go away." Jake snapped with a glare, obviously hungry as well.

"Well, lets find something," Kira said looking at a city map. "Lets see, theres a grill house with house specials over that way,"

Jake looked over Kira's shoulder like a little kid would. "Do we even have enough money to feed all of us?"

"Well I've saved up quite a bit from the police work I did, it might just be enough,"

"I have some yuons too," Mikey said.

Jake looked over at Cinos sarcastically. "I don't suppose you have some yuons too, do you?"

Cinos looked around and then tilted his head at Jake. Mikey looked at the shops and saw a small shack selling shish kabob sticks.

"Hey that looks cheep, only five yuons a stick,"

"It'll do for now, I'll need to get lots extra to feed bottomless pits one and two over here," Kira said pointing at Jake and Cinos.

Jake simply gave a thumbs-up to Kira and sat down with Cinos. Kira, Mikey and Alexa went over and ordered what they wanted, and Kira got extra for the Avatar and his crazy passed the handful to Jake and the group sat down.

Alexa took her food and distanced herself from the group she sat on a little bench looking out at the water.

"Alexa, you don't have to move away from us..." Mikey said.

"Its fine... I just don't feel right without my friend and being a non bender and all..."

Mikey got up and went over to Alexa and gave her a big hug, "Don't worry... Everything will be okay..." he said before getting up and walking back to the others and nibbled on his food. Kira laughed while Jake placed the food-bobs on Cinos' nose, demonstrating the 'wait' command that took ten years for Cinos to get.

"Are you going to be a good boy, huh? Wait?" Jake asked Cinos.

Cinos stared with his eyes crossed holding still with one paw lifter of the ground. After a couple seconds longer, Jake gave the signal, allowing Cinos his much desired freedom.

Cinos happily ate the food off the sticks while the others laughed at how silly the blue critter was.

Alexa got up and walked away from the group back to the cabins the grab her bag and walk down to the dock. Mikey was watching sadly. He looked at Jake with the look of dread that they were wasting time.

"I hope she figures herself out soon" Alexa said throwing a rocking into the ocean.

Lexi walked off the ship and waved goodbye to Derek, "Have a nice trip captain" she said before turning and walking to a local tea shop, she was welcomed with a hot cup of her favorite tea and questions on where she's been.

Trixie had gotten off as well, but for different reasoning than Lexi. She wasn't planning on sticking around on a different boat, but as it happened, she had stayed for a bit too long and wasn't able to get back on the one where the rest of the group was. When she got off, she noticed that Lexi had been aboard at the same time. Feeling both relieved and scared that Lexi is there with her, Trixie decided to follow her so that she at least knew someone there. Trixie just didn't feel like letting Lexi know that, though.

Lexi decided it was time to face her parents and resume her fire bending training. She paid for her tea and started walking towards a large estate on the other side of town... The upper class side of town. She knocked on the door and waited, no answer her parents were probably in meetings with the fire lord. She went inside and walked to her room and collapsed on her bed.

"Who would have thought I would have missed home this much," she said forgetting about her worries about Darkfire or that Team Avatar was safe. She felt bad for having them sent to Republic City but felt that it would be easier... If she couldn't manage to defeat Darkfire.

There was a creak on the hardwood floors. Someone was walking around the house. Lexi got up and walked out back onto her personal training studio. She looked over and saw an apparition at the corner of the room.

She looked at the corner before sitting down and reading through a firebending scroll.

"Lightbending... I've never heard of this style..." Lexi said as the apparition gliding across the room. She sounded like an old, wise spirit.

"Just another made up bending style" Lexi said throwing the scroll across the room..

"Not made up so much as it hasn't been done yet... People said darkbending was only a myth, but yet here we are today, the whole world at risk cause of darkbenders..."

"well I guess the world is over because no one can do this style" Lexi said going to pick up the scroll. "

"I think you could do it..." the spirit said.

"This looks impossible, " she said. "Maybe the avatar could learn this but not a normal bender,"

"Nothing is impossible... You'll never know until you try."

"This is not stances I've ever seen"

"Then try them,"

"This is just crazy.. I would have to be the greatest firebender in the world to do this"

"Maybe you are, but you just don't know it yet,"

"Fine" she said standing up and taking the abnormal firebendimg stance. She took a deep breath and sent a blast of fire out of her palm. "see nothing blue fire, white fire...clearly I can't do that and who says I can't take Darkfire down with my blue fire anyways!" she said looking at the spirit.

"Because light takes out the darkness... Darkfire expects you to come after him after that encounter the other night, he knows you have blue fire and lightning."

"So, I was always the better bender just because he has darkbending that doesn't make him better then me" she yelled not noticing the blue flames around her hands turning white slowly.. The spirit smiled as he watched her flames become brighter.

"I said this when him and I were kids.. It's not the type of bending that makes the bender strong, it's the heart of the bender!" she said blindly punching one of the practice dummies in the room... The flame as it impacted turned into a white hot flame, incinerating the dummy. "I am the better bender!" she yelled widely growing white fire at the dummies in the room.

"It's okay Lexi... You're a lightbender..." the spirit said. Lexi started to calm down and looked at the flame in her hand.

"I guess those old stories were right... Weren't they grandmother..." Lexi said turning her head to the spirit. The old woman smiled at her, she was so proud of Lexi and how far she had come.

"The darkbender will arrive shortly, you should hurry..." Lexi nodded running out of her house, she slid into a stop outside her house.

"Well, well... If it isn't team uhvatar" Lexi said crossing her arms.

"Lexi... I don't want to be in Republic City if things got bad," Mikey said his eyes were large, expressing fear. "I know you did what you had to in order to protect us... But you don't have to face Darkfire without your friends there to back you up!"

"I may not have been acting like it, Lexi... But I care..." Jake said. "And you're not a bad teacher," he added, lighting his arms up in flames. controlling it perfectly.

"I just needed the right boost..."

"You don't think your training is done... Do you, you mastered the basics... You still have a lot to learn uhvatar, and the rest of you... I am not helpless as you once thought, I am the greatest firebender in the world!" lexi said smirking..

"Yea, yea, lets see it when you mop the floor with Darkfire's face!" Mikey said.

"No, not yet... Let his heart grow darker, it will be easier to defeat him," Lexi said looking at the group.

"lexi what do you mean greatest firebender?" Alexa asked running forward hugging her friend. Lexi smiled and patted her head.

"I uh learned a new style" Lexi said walking off to an abandoned part of the beach.

"Really?" Mikey asked watching her go.

"Yes now come on, I can't show you guys in the city, or stay in the city where there could be more darkbenders" she said shrugging as Alexa ran excitedly after her friend. Jake nodded and followed "There are more..." he said quietly. "We fought three in Republic City. One almost killed Kira..."

"Yes I know... I thought there was just darkfire but it seems like there maybe a whole hidden nation, question does anyone know the most deadly form a firebending without lightning," lexi said knocking on a dead tree.

"Blue fire?" Kira asked tilting his head. Lexi shook her head.

"Has anyone ever heard of lightbending, know the well what I thought was a bedtime story" Alexa's eyes widened.

"It.. It isn't a story"

"Can you bend white fire?" Mikey asked, "Like how Darkfire bends black fire?"

Lexi simple sent a wave of white flames at the already dead tree. "Yes, like I said.. I'm stronger than he is"

"It would make since... White fire can cancel out the black fire... So if there are other Darkbenders with other bending styles... Lightbending would have to be taught to three other benders, if it's possible," Jake said looking doubtfull.

"That doesn't matter right now, if Lexi can beat Darkfire, who is posing the bigger threat, then that's enough to make me happy..." Mikey said "We'll deal with the other darkbenders later!"

"Lexi... Lexi is that you" came the voice of a blond woman in upper class clothing.

"Yes mother...I've come home mother" Lexi said looking down in shame. The others stood back and looked at their friend. Trixie flew in and landed by Jake to watch.

"Lexi, if you'd like, we'll find a motel to stay in for the night," Jake said.

"No any friends of Lexi's are welcome at our home"

"Yes" Lexi's father said glancing at lexi.

"Thank you sir..." Mikey said with a smile. "We didn't want to intrued... With the threat of darkbenders out for Jake, we didn't want to put you in danger."

"No its fine, Lexi escort them to the estate" He said before leaving with his wife.

"Yes father..." She said walking back towards her home.

The others fallowed her and watched the firebender's mom and dad go inside.

"I've shamed my father by running away" Lexi said showing the group to the guest bedrooms. Mikey looked down. Kira seamed to look even more ashamed.

"This mess was all my fault... When I found out Jake was the Avatar, I wanted the best chance for him to learn. Benders from all over the world came the train him... But I was so uneasy, I decided at the festival there would be a drawing to see who was going to train him... But instead it may have caused problems..."

Jake put his hand on Kira's shoulder.

"No I ran away from home way before I knew about avatar day..."

"I know, but I should have done something, making you go train Jake made you stay away from home longer."

"maybe if I protect the fire lord maybe father will forgive me.." Lexi said walking back to her room. Mikey stepped out to follow her, he was waterbender and used a water whip on something. There was a sound of lashing and a dark being fell to the floor.

"Lexi..." Mikey said, realizing she had disappeared.

The waterbender quickly bound the shadowy figure in ice, only leaving his head free so he could breath. "Where did they take her!"

"The the fire lord... Darkfire wants him to see the Chosen bride to fail..."

Mikey quickly bashed him over the head and got up, "Come on guys!"

"Woah what's happened" Alexa said tilting her head.

"Darkbenders must have taken her... Man, Darkfire is obsessed," Jake said Mikey shot past them and out the builder. Jake quickly earthbent the grouns and stopped Mikey, "Hold on we could be running into a trap!"

"Most likely, but what if he has her locked up so she can bend...If so she needs help" Alexa said looking at the avatar. "send two benders that can sneak around and report back... It's too risky to send you Jake"

Kira nodded, "Darkfire was thinking ahead, capture the Avatar's friend, and he'll come running, it has Jake bait written all over it."

"Then I'll go with Trixie, we're light on our feet, and we can get out in less than ten seconds," Mikey said.

"We have to assume that he already moved the real fire lord to the dungeons... That means he wouldn't want Lexi uncomfortable... The throne room is the only place I can think of..." Alexa said pacing while thinking.

"Do you have a map of the place?" Jake asked.

"Excuse me... but I have a map" Lexi's mothers voice came out of the background, she had been crying "where...where is my daughter avatar..."

Jake scratched his head and held the woman's hand. "I think she's been taken to the fire lord's throne room... An evil bender, Darkfire seeks revenge on me for something I may have done in my life as Korra... And he may also be seeking revenge on Lexi, for what, I don't know.. But no matter what happens, I'll make sure she gets free, and that Darkfire is defeated..."

"I will stay with lexis parents" Alexa said handing the map to Mikey, "the throne room should be in the middle of the palace."

Mikey nodded with Trixie next to him, "Miss Lexi's mom! We'll bring her back!" he called.


	6. Chp 6 The Price to See it End

Darkfire paced back and forth, his mind spinning. The fire lord was imprisoned and Lexi bound tightly to the throne. He made sure she wouldn't be able to throw any punches or kicks at him while he pondered the great dark thoughts. He stopped and tapped his chin.

"What would be a fitting end for the avatar?..."

"Me drowning you in hot oil" Lexi spat, "the avatar won't come for me fool!"

Darkfire lit himself in black fire, "Yes he will, the Avatar always comes. I'm a threat to him so he must stop me, shouldn't he? I plan on removing the Avatar from the world... We don't need the harmony anymore..."

"We do with crazy people like you running around!"

"Crazy?" Darkfire laughed, "No, we're evolved beings, being able to bend the darkness of the elements is stronger than anything, the Avatar won't stand a chance against us!"

"...So I'm tied to the throne so you can make a point... And you say you aren't crazy old friend" lexi said looking at the chains around her feet smirking. "What makes you think you are stronger than say someone like me... Are you scared of me is that why you have me tied up" lexi said while concentrating on moving the heat in her body into the chains around her legs.

"Me scared of you?" He scoffed as he turned his red eyes to her, "I'm scared of nothing!"

"are you scared to hurt me... Could it be somewhere in that twisted mind of yours that you fancy me," she teased feeling the chains around her legs slowly become less tight, "are you scared because secretly you know you still care for me"

"No I'm not! Every moment here, the darkness is always closing in on me... I want out-" Darkfire stopped himself, "Sorry you had to hear that, what ever is left of the light in me continue to burn at my figures and mind..."

"You don't remember wanting to marry me as a child my friend?" lexi said slowly sliding one of her legs out from under the chains.

"I remember that..." He said looking off into distance. "Those silly little games we would play..."

"why lie to yourself if you still fancy me" lexi said, while bending the flame of the candles to her foot waiting for the flame to turn white.

"Because everything the black master works for is on my shoulders... I must fully put out my good flames before I present this landmark to him..."

"then why don't you kill me now... It would be easy seeing as you have blocked my ability to bend... Or you could stop all this nonsense and we could still get married, like you wanted when we were children," she said glancing at the blue flame slowly turning white.

Darkfire did not respond. The was a crashing sound and he turned quickly. Another darkbender was running over.

"Darkfire, the fire lord has escaped."

Black flames ignited , "How?..." came the dark and angry reponce.

"A waterbender and an airbender broke in and released him!"

"How could you let them get away you idiot!"

Lexi took the time to use the flame to melt the chains around her arms, and just sat with them behind her back. "I told you the avatar wouldn't come old friend... You should have listened."

Darkfire whipped around to glare at her, but saw she had broken the bonds.

"You always did get distracted when we talked about marriage my friend" Lexi said before sending multiple waves of white fire from her leg. Darkfire turned to one side, just berely avoiding the blast. But the flames were so hot it burned the shoulder pad off of his armor, even starting to burn into him.

A scream split the air as he held his arm. Lexi stood from the chair before shooting a bright strike of lightning at the other darkbender. He fell to the floor, completely out cold from the strike. Lexi slowly walked towards darkfire, "Please my friend let me free you from the darkness, we can start over"

Darkfire glared at her, his eyes filled with hate and anger, His body lit up with the black flames.

"I won't let that happen..." Said the mummy man as he walked in with a black slime following him in. "His hate for you and the Avatar is fiulling our power... If we lose a darkbender to the likes of you, we'd have to exterminate him..."

Lexi held her hand out to Darkfire "Let me help you... Please my dear friend, let me save you from yourself" Lexi said slowly walking towards him.

Darkfire stared at her. His eyes narrow as he looked at the mummy. "I... I want out of here..."

The dark waterbender's eyes lit with anger as he blasted the sludge onto both of them, sanding Lexi back to the throne and freezing her to it, Darkfire was left in a frozen block of the black ice, "Be a good boy Darkfire, and think about how much you hate everything..."

"why use this innocent person if YOU are out for revenge... Mr. mummy guy" Lexi said trying to firebend but she couldn't.

"I do not seek revenge, and I don't need Darkfire, it's just fun messing with people who have weak hearts... The goal here is to please the master, in global controll. The world belongs to dark spirits now..."

"have you ever seen what happens when you hold ice next to blue fire" lexi questioned breathing slowly trying to summon all the energy she could.

"Oh yes, I have, but black ice is much harder to melt..."

"We'll see about that!" Came the voice of a young waterbender. The dark man was struck down by a water whip, "Everyone knows my waterbending is better then any dark waterbending!" Mikey roared.

"Mikey... GET OUT OF HERE, this isn't a game"Lexi yelled as the black ice very slowly started to melt.

"We came to help the fire lord get free and even the playing field for you," Jake said walking in with the others.

"That won't be and option..." The mummy said shooting black slime at them and freezing them to a wall. He walked over to Darkfire and shattered the ice away, "Finish these rats off before the master gets here..." he added before disappearing.

"Yes, Okain..." Darkfire said standing upright, all the traces of the old fire Lexi had pulled out were gone.

"yea nice evening the playing field... Darkfire my friend let's finish our lovely conversation shall we" lexi asked watching the ice around her slowly melt into a small puddle under her.

Darkfire looked up at Lexi, "I'll make this quick and painless..."

"But I thought you loved me, you would kill someone you love" she asked glaring at the members of her team. Mikey was struggling frantically, trying to unfreeze the black ice.

"I love nothing, only the master... I am Darkfire, and I hate everything..."

"Then kill me first then walk over here and kill me... Unless you are scared"

"I fear nothing..."

The black fire came back around him and he came at Lexi.

"I've always loved you ya know..even now I still love you," she said feeling her shoulders begin to regain heat.

"I'll make you regret that choice..." Darkfire said

"its a shame you have to kill me then... I could probably learn to darkbend if we got married," Darkfire stopped in front of her, his fist still burning, "One doesn't learn darkbending..."

"I bet I could if I had a strong darkbender to teach me.. Like your for example... But oh well you don't love me anymore" she sighed turning her head away from him.

"Lexi! What are you doing! strop him!" Mikey roared.

"Mikey shut your yap!" Jake growled.

Darkfire turned on them and snarled, "Don't interfere with me and my business, weaklings, I'll get to you when I'm done here!"

"Pay them no mind... Come on you and I both know that I could learn if you really wanted to" Lexi said sending her team the shut the spirits up look.

"Darkbending can't be taught... You have to give your soul to the dark master so he can poison you with his evil..." Darkfire said. "And why would you want darkbending when you have lightbending..."

Lexi put one of her freed hands on his shoulder, "why have that when I could have you instead" she said looking up at him. Darkfire looked away.

"I don't deserve someone like you... Not after what all I have done..."

She moved her hand to his cheek and turned his head back towards her, "I could forgive all that, infact I could turn the avatar into your master if you wanted" she said moving her other arm..

"I want to kill him myself... He'll pay in blood for what Korra did..."

"what's the fun in taking on an avatar who hasn't even finished his earth training" she said hugging him, while glancing at her legs that were still frozen. Jake freeing an arm caught her eyes and he shot hot chi to her, trying to help her regain that white fire.

"what do you think, it could be you and me together like the good old days," lexi said smiling.

"You want that back after I left you for the power of more trainers..."

"It isn't your fault... I should have run faster to catch you" she said snuggling into his chest, "You're still as warm as I remember"

Darkfire looked down at her. His eyes had turned amber for a short moment. "Lexi..."

Lexi stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck bringing him close to her, "you still love me a such as you don't want to say it""

"I..." Darkfire began. He cringed and held his head.

"Here I have an idea let's make a game out of it, I challenge you to a fight if you win I'll abandon the avatar and we'll get married but if I win... You have to stop this and turn yourself in for going against the fire nation... Okay?" lexi said looking at him.

"Fine..." Darkfire said. Lexi walked off the throne steps and stood at the other side of the throne room.

"You have to promise if I win to turn yourself in or I won't marry you." lexi said putting her hands on her hips.

"Okay, fine, I promise..."

"I'll even give you the first hit free"

Darkfire eyes her and quickly looked at the others to make sure they weren't gone. The darkness in him was becoming frantic, and Lexi could see it. Just a little more heat, and the real Agni Kai could begin...

"I'm not going to go easy on you like I did when we were kids"

"Very well..." Darkfire said as he shot black fire at her from his feet. Lexi took the hit like she said she would before charging towards him, sending bright white flames at him from her fists.

Darkfire ducked in shock remembering the agony of the white fire. Lexi brought her foot up by his chest shooting fire at his chest before dropping down and tripping him with her fell and rolled away getting up, he was breathing hard as his body sizled. The was the sound of a crack. Darkfire looked up with cracks running along his right eye. Bright white light glimmered from within the shattered fake skin.

"I will not allow you to take this power away!" He roared as he tried to cover himself in black fire.

Lexi backed up, "I'm not trying to take it away I'm trying to save you!"

Darkfire cover his face, screaming as the light continued to burn. "my friend I'm sorry but I end this now" she said walking up to him slowly.

"Lexi, keep hitting him with the white fire, look at his hair it's turning russet brown!" Mikey called. Lexi stopped in front of Darkfire, she felt her eyes start to water as she put a hand on his cheek and a hand on his chest.

Darkfire looked at her, the dark red eyes were bloodshot. He tried to ignite the room in more black flame, but couldn't manage a singel black spark.

"No what is wrong with me, my black fire!"

"I want you to know that... I do love you... And I'm sorry for what I have to do" she said before kissing him.

The dark eyes looked down at her, For a moment there was a hint of sadness in them as the white fire tore his darkness away. Lexi opened her eyes and shot white electricty into his body to purify the darkness around his heart before turning her back to him and looking down.

Darkfire fell down. Black steam rising off him. His black hair faded away to a bright reddish brown. There was silence for a long moment. Then a painful gasp hit the air.

"It won't kill you but it will hurt...Im sorry but I won you have to turn yourself in," she said looking at him as a single tear fell down her cheek.

Darkfire, or Kerugarn, sat up slowly. The amber eyes were large as he glanced around...

"I- Lexi... I'm free..." Tears streamed down his face as he lit his hands with a bright red flame, "It's back, everything is back!"

Lexi turned to him and hugged him. "You know you will probably be sent to jail for the rest of your life""

"I don't care right now... I'm back, I'm human again..."

The others had gotten free and were shaking the cold off.

"Well isn't this a shame," Came the dark voice of the mummy being. Several black ice spikes floating around him, as he shot them at Lexi,

"Lexi watch out!" Kerugarn cried as he shoved her out of the way. The room became cold as the young man fell to his knees.

The dark waterbender grinned devilishly before he dissapeared once again.

The group ran to Lexi and the bleeding Kerugarn.

"W..why would you do that" lexi yelled at him crying. Kerugarn looked at her, shaking. He held out his hand.

"Because... You're my, best friend, Lexi... I'm so sorry I left you all those years ago..." He said. He coughed and cringed.

"Don't talk, I'm going to see what I can do." Mikey said getting out his water poutch.

"No... D... Don't... I knew... If I was set free- Okain would come back and try to kill Lexi..." He choked. "The world needs her, she can lightbend... The one thing that can take darkbender's power away..."

Mikey looked at Lexi.

lexi looked at Mikey and shook her head.

Mikey symply covered his mouth to sliglently weep.

"Lexi," Kerugarn said as he weekly took her hand, "I love you..."

Lexi smiled at him and kissed his cheek," I know...I'll make sure your taken care of okay.."

Kerugarn looked over at Jake, coughed a little more.

"Avatar... I'm sorry I tried to kill you..."

Jake looked back with sympathy. "It's fine..."

"You and your friends must do what you can to stop Okain... He won't stop until this master of his has the world..."

"You mustn't speak, you need your strength," Mikey said.

Lexi got up and looked over her shoulder, "goodbye old friend"

The others stayed watching Kerugarn's breathing slow down more and more. Mikey sighed and placed his hand over the amber eyes, slowly moving them away leaving the eyes closed. lexi came back and picked him up. "come on guys..." Everyone nodded slowly and got up. Kira looked back and helped Trixie up. She looked so sad for the death of a man she didn't know.

The earthbender pat her on the shoulder and smiled at her, she looked up and him and hugged him. Slowly but surely, they all left...


	7. Chp 7 Going underground

Kira sat out on a doc watching fire works go off in hornor of Lexi's return... But sadness filled the minds and hearts of Team Avatar. The earthbender sighed and looked up as Jake came up and sat next to him looking into the water.

"Some celebration, huh Jake?" he asked looking at his son. Jake's face held the usual blank stare as he watched the colorful fire show go on.

"Sure it is..." Jake mumbled, not particularly showing any cheerful emotion.

"This is sick, people are all happy cause one girl came home so she can be forced to get married... Do they even care that someone was killed?"

"Most of the people here didn't know him... And because my father is close to the fire lord and there is not crowned princess, but only a crowned prince, I've always been treated as if I was actually a princess... It isn't their fault." Lexi said glaring, "It's not wise to speak ill of the fire nation... While in the fire nation".

Kira sighed and looked down. "I know, sorry. Its just hard right now, never in my life would I have expected any of this to happen... I only want the best for my son..." Jake glanced at his father, but then looked away, trying to absorb what has happened in the last couple days.

"I can have a boat ready for you guys tomorrow... I won't be leaving with you"

"Are you sure? Your lightbending is the only thing that can stop darkbenders... It would be safer if you could help protect us, but I guess your father wants you to stay here..." Kira said looking down.

"No..I have to protect my nation from what ever this i-" lexi was cut off by her father walking over to the group

"Do you need my daughter that badly"

"Her lightbending is so amazing... She would make a great general of the fire nation navy, and if the darkbenders are after Jake, we wouldn't stand a chance..." Kira said standing up

"Lexi..."

"Yes father.."

"Go with them"

"But father.."

"Go, they need you... it is my fault you ran away, I kept you locked up for too long.. so go" he said hugging her.

"Thank you father" she said watching her father walk off with her mother.

Kira got up and smiled, looked back at Jake, wondering what was going on in his mind. Jake had been silent, like usual, but his eyes were distant, gazing off in a whole other world.

"uhvatar I hope you realize I'm not done whooping you into shape yet"

He instantly tore away from his thoughts and then smiled at her. "Yeah, well... You shouldn't be. I may be good, but I still need your help after all this."

Jake was about to say something else when cinos bolted past Lexi and tackled him into the water. He had no time to react other than look wildly at Cinos' speeding form. Once they dove into the water, he began mock fighting with the blue beast after they rose on the water. Cinos dog paddled around playfully and barked.

Kira laughed at the large wolf-cat and smiled. Cinos always had good timing...

Jake splashed some water at the beast before he got back on the dock, dripping wet from head to toe.

"its like looking at a kid that was forced to take a bath" lexi laughed while Jake glared at her doubled over form, seemingly unamused by her humor.

"Well, lets go inside, im getting a little hungry, how about you guys?" Kira asked. Cinos barked excitedly.

"You're always hungry you big blue mouth!" Kira laughed.

Jake ruffled some of Cinos' fur on his muzzle, and gestured for him to follow them. Everyone walked back up to the house. Mikey was sitting up in a tree, He had a blank look but shook his head when he saw the others.

"Come Mikey, food time,"

The waterbender jumped out of the tree right away.

"Mikey are you okay..." Lexi asked walking next to him..

"Yes, I'm alright, just getting over the crazy day... I just feel bad cause I could have done something for Kerugarn..."

"It's not your fault Mikey, nun of us could do anything to help," Kira said.

"After all that I don't think I would have wanted someone to heal me either... But he is with the spirits now so he is doing better then he would alive in prison" lexi said patting mikey's shoulder.

"I know," Mikey whipered.

"Don't beat yourself up about it..."

"I wont..."

Cinos stayed close to Jake while they went into the house. Jake silently thanked Cinos for his company, feeling that if he were by himself, even with the group, he would feel alone.

"I'm sorry you all had to see that though..." Lexi said looking down before going inside and walking to her room.. Kira sighed and looked at her mom and dad scratching his head.

"You guys wouldn't mind lending some food and shelter would you?"

"you can stay here till you guys are ready to leave" Lexi said before closing her door.

"Thanks Lexi," Mikey said, "Food please, my stomach is eating itself..."

"In the kitchen"

Mikey looked at her mom and dad and walked off.

"I'll go get Cinos dried off, I'm sure you don't want the smell of wet wolf-cat in your house," Kira said to Lexi's parents.

Lexi's mother smiled while setting the table.

Mikey walked in with the others and looked around, "These are nice."

"Thank you help yourselves to whatever" Lexi's mother said before taking a plate of food to lexi.

"oh I forgot there are vegetarian options as well " Lexis mother said cleaning up the kitchen.

"Thank you so much." Kira said looking and the spred. Mikey was looking out the window while he ate some red bean soup.

"You're welcome dear" she replied walking . Cinos walked in and sat under the table at Jake's feet. Lexi came in and started making tea. Mikey smiled a little and looked under the table.

"Alright, what's with you Cinos, not beggin' for food?"

Lexi took her tea and walked out of the room. Cinos looked at Mikey with his head resting on his paws. His tail thumped on the floor a little as if to act all innocent.

"Please keep him under control I don't want mother to have to clean up a lot"

"I'm sure he'll behave for Jake..." Kira said. "He knows better than to misbehave inside a nice house." At that comment, Jake gave a certain look to Cinos, which yelled 'Knock it off, or else' to prove it. Cinos rolled over and wagged his tail with a yawn, meaning he'd behave.

After they all at dinner they each went to the bedrooms to lay down in. Jake looking up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Cinos came up and jumped onto to bed next to him. He thought he was a lap pet, but he didn't know he was too big to be a lap pet. Jake, being jolted awake from his trance, shot a humorous look at Cinos.

The wolf-cat purred and closed his eyes, kneading on the pillow like a pup-kit. Jake pet him and fell into a 'rock hard' sleep.

Jake stood in a clearing. To what he could see it just outside Republic City.

"It's good to finally meet you..." came a voice. The Avatar turned and saw Korra sitting near by.

"Korra...?"

"This is a dream, Jake. Yes, this is where we come when our minds are clear, and able to meditate on the things we have seen,"

"Well... now that I'm here, I have a question. That boy, Kerugarn... When we met, he told me you killed his family. Was that something the darkbenders told him just to make him hate us more?"

Korra nodded. "The information they gave him was a planted lie. The darkbenders wanted his full allegiance."

"Are there others like him?" Jake asked. Korra shrugged and looked around.

"I know that there are many of them. But what is pushing them to work so hard for a fate they would never see coming."

Jake turned his head.

"A darkbender is created through a painful sad loss, or an angry vengeful event in the benders life. The pain is amplified and it grows unsteadily. All that sadness and emotion puts a tax on the darkbenders heart. Their lifespan gets cut in half... At most, a darkbender will only live five or six years..."

Jake seemed a little disheartened at this fact. "What if they were changed?"

"That is a mystery, because no bender has been able to lightbend till now"

"So, does that mean Lexi is the first?"

"Yes the fire bender is the first to learn what would otherwise would take perhaps many lifetimes to master"

"What about the av- err, me... Can I do anything to help Lexi through all of this?"

"Young avatar you must master firebending, but at the same time the firebender must learn to be able to lightbend, in conflicts that are not personal to her aswell. Learn from each other and perhaps one day avatar you might learn lightbending"

Jake nodded in obedience. All of a sudden, his made-up world had shifted and faded away until he finally woke up.

"Wakey wakey uhvatar we've arrived in Republic City... so get up!" Lexi said through the door to the boys cabin before going to wake the other girls. Jake groaned, pulled his pillow out from under him and pushed it on his face, not feeling like getting up right now.

"If I have to come in there and get you up myself I WILL" Lexi said leaning against the door.

"All right, fine! Spirits..." He muttered, muffled by his pillow. "You don't have to be bitchy about it." Jake hobbled over to the door after he'd gotten ready, still half-asleep.

"Mornin' love, you have training to do, its time you start on the more challenging stuff" Lexi said patting the avatar's head before walking off. Jake gave her a sneer before reluctantly following, waking up along the way.

"Don't look at me like that I could have woken you up when it was still dark" Lexi said leaning against one of the sides of the ship. "Show me what you magically learned while I was out of the picture, "thrill me"

He took one of his fire stances and breathed deeply before he started showing her the attacks he used on the mummy-man.

"Good... You are too stiff though, loosen up to stay one step ahead of your enemy, because if you have to stop to go into each stance you are as good as dead" Lexi said showing him how to be more fluid with his transitions between attacks. "Its like a dance uhvatar"

Jake relaxed his body and tried to copy her movements, taking her analogy and trying to make use out of it.

"Better. Try using your fire to cut through and block mine." Lexi said sending waves of blue fire at him. Jake had sliced through some of her fire with his own orange blazes and putting up a sort of fiery shield against her other blue waves.

"Well, well, well, looks like someone's learning today." Lexi said sending a combination of kicks and punches of blue flames not exactly going easy on Jake. He had some trouble through her attacks, managing to stand his ground, but he refused to allow her sight of his struggles. Lexi ran at him putting her foot against his chest.

"Looks like you're stuck, Jakers" Lexi said laughing.

Jake looked at her with confusion, but then shook his head. "Okay, okay..."

"You're giving up..." Lexi questioned moving her other leg behind his feet quietly.

"Not exactly." He trailed off, shifting so that he wouldn't get tripped by the lightbender. "I just know when I'm beat." He shrugged. Lexi used her foot to push him against a wall.

"Remember this avatar, if I can get you in this postion then anyone can, and if a darkbender gets you stuck you're screwed" Lexi said putting her foot on the ground. "Other than that your progress is much better now"

"Thanks... I guess?" He said unsurely. Lexi nodded opening her hand glaring at the blue fire.

"What happened to my fire... yesterday I'm unbeatable but now... was that just a fluke..."

"No, I don't think it was."

"Then why do I feel weaker since my fire is only blue again..."

"... I'm not really sure. Maybe you need to be in a certain state of mind...?"

"hmph... white fire... I don't have time for childish stories..." Lexi said looking out at the city.

"You do if you want to beat those darkbenders." Jake retorted. "You're the only lightbender in existence; I would think that by that fact alone, you could try a little bit harder with your white fire."

"Do you realize I've been up since it was dark trying to make my fire white... Maybe the spirits don't think I'm the right person for the job... Maybe it should be the avatar"

"No!" Then he backtracked. "I mean, not yet. The spirits definitely chose you as a lightbender... you just have to learn how to use your power outside of your... personal problems."

"... Outside my own problems," Lexi said closing her eyes breathing slowly. Lexi opened her hand as a blue flame flicker with specks of white. She sat there clearing her mind of all the selfish reasons she wanted the white fire back, she instead focused on the thought of protect team avatar from the darkbenders, the blue flame grew slowly losing its bright blue color to a white inferno.

Mikey walked over yawning. He looked at jake and blinked a little, "How's that training going?"

Jake smirked back. "Good for me. Great for her."

"Avatar I never said stop practicing I don't hear you practicing" Lexi said glancing at him. Mikey grinned and pat him on the shoulder.

"Enjoy your fire and air training jake, cause once we get to the south pole, we're getting up before the sun does..." he said walking off.

"Mikey why are you even up this early?" Lexi said pointing at the sun that was just beginning to rise.

"Cinos woke me up. Since I couldn't fall back asleep I decided to get up..."

"I see," Lexi said looking at the white fire dancing I'm her hand, "Do you suppose it would be possible to be a darkbender but not evil...?" Lexi asked really to no one in particular.

"I don't think so..." Mikey said sitting down. "When I saw Kerugarn come back, he was all shaky and looked weak, I think darkbending eats away at your body,"

"It does." Jake said.

"Even if I get rid of the darkness what then, do they live..."

"They should, if you save them in time. Last night, I had a dream... Korra was there, she told me everything I needed to know about darkbenders, and the deadly fate that awaits them."

"What if the good in the person's heart is enough to keep them from being swallowed by the darkness... Are they still the enemy?"

"Darkbenders are made through sadness and painful memories, the darkness amplifies that and makes their anger the center of their lives, I guess to make the obey this dark master of theirs. No matter what, even if there is good, it's not there till the darkness is taken out by the light..."

Mikey tilt his head and closed his eyes... "Yea, you lost me there Jake, actually you lost me at 'blah blah blah..."

"So, what, we go around what might as well be killing darkbenders? What makes us better than them if that is what we must do?" Lexi said crossing her arms.

"What if lightbending doesn't kill them though? Remember? You didn't kill Kerugarn, that Okain jerk did."

"You think I was sure it wouldn't kill him, I had no idea what it could of done even with the minimal amount of power that I used... What if does kill them? That makes me just as bad..."

"Lexi..." Mikey said. "We don't know much of anything about the lightbending, but if it does kill them... Don't you think their suffering would end?"

"Their lives are cut in half, so they would die even if we didn't stop them. Okain is going around, taking innocent people who are suffering and turning them into monsters." Jake commented. "Stop beating yourself up about the darkbenders."

"So that makes it okay for me to possibly end their lives...?"

"If I was a darkbender, I'd beg you to put me down..." Mikey said.

"Why am I the only person in the world whose job it is to do this...? Come on, let's go check out the city. Make sure the others are up." Lexi said getting up and walking off the ship.

Cinos ran out from the cabins with a large brown bag in his teeth and a ranting fire nation guard running after him. Jake screamed internally at the sight, staring at Cinos with wide eyes. The wolf-cat ran over and sat behind jake with the bag and tore it open, letting millions of bone shaped treats fall out. Jake barked commands at Cinos, berating him and yelled threats if he didn't stop his bad behavior.

Cinos made wide sad eyes and wilted his ears, making that sad whining sound.

Mikey picked up the bag and the treats, "Is this like pet food or something?" he said as he looked at the firebender.

"I was told to take them to the mens cabin so the Avatar could give his pet treats when he wanted, but I found the pet and was jumped." the guard said. Jake glared at Cinos. The blue ball of fuzz wilted his ears more. Jake sighed, rolling his eyes at the creature.

"As long as you behave the rest of the day... Go for it." Jake told him as he was applying pressure to his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"Well then don't eat them all Cinos," Mikey said looking at Jake after 'throwing Cinos a bone', "Headache? I can fix those"

"No, it's fine. Just a small thing, nothing unbearable..." He replied, squinting his eyes shut.

Mikey bent out few small beads of water, quickly applying them to one side of Jake's neck and swiftly moving them around to the other side and across his forehead and back into his water bag. Jake quickly opened his eyes and his breath hitched when he realized Mikey was right in front of him with his watery touch.

"Sorry, just want you to be able to train without any distractions like a mere headache"

"I- um- yeah. Thanks..." Jake said, taking a step back, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"No problem... If anyone has a complaint of muscle pain, just give me a holler, I know all the pressure points in the body and how to soothe them. Here, I know, Jake, want me to take Cinos out for a walk? I'll get him to work off that crazy energy so you can train, 'cause Lexi looks like she's going to set your ass on fire."

He chuckled as he glanced at Lexi. "Sure. If you can handle his hyperactivity, he's all yours."

"I swear, the chances of someone accidentally getting thrown off a boat are raising awfully high and we wouldn't want anyone getting hurt... right uhvatar?"

Jake shrugged and looked at her as if to say "I don't give a turtleduck's ass, but okay."

" You don't.. Oh we shall see" lexi said walking over to the avatar. "I'm not scared to drown the avatar... so keep pushing it hotshot" Jake just scoffed and looked down at her. "You wanna end up face down in a body of water keep on then," Lexi said pushing past the avatar. Even so, he gave her a mocking face behind her back and silently jeered.

Cinos perked his ears up and growled at Lexi. Lexi looked at the beast with a 'come-at-me-bro' face. "Come on cinos lets go!" Mikey said running up and waving a treat in his face and taking off with Cinos following him. Jake shook his head as his 'vicious guard wolf-cat' ran off with his silly antics.

"Guys, isn't it a little too early in the morning to be flirting?" Alexa said yawning.

He shot Alexa an odd look, and replied "Well, tell her that." She must've just gotten up.

"Stop flirting back then." Alexa said stretching.

His whole body flinched with irritation when he heard 'Flirting'. "We aren't even- Okay, anyway... Do you know what time it is?"

"Time to stop standing around on a boat..."

Jake sighed. "All right. Fair enough. I need to take a break from her anyway." He huffed as he walked away.

"Lexi, don't throw the fireball!"

"He started it! But in all seriousness, I've heard there is supposed to be an underground branch of the darkbender nation here... What should we do...?" Lexi asked blowing the fire in her hand out.

"Who knows," Kira said walking in. He stretched and sat near the rail. " Maybe we should wait for Mikey to come back with the big blue mouth..."

"I'm gonna find out who this master is." Lexi said turning to walk off the boat.

"Be careful then..." Kira said.

"I'll be fine, maybe the group should split up and see what we can find out. It's a big city, so we may as well see if the rumors are true..."

"What rumors?" Trixie had popped in unexpectedly. They could never really tell when she was around until she actually spoke up.

"I was out this morning and overheard a few people talking about an underground nation... I assume of darkbenders..."

"An underground nation?" Trixie echoed, tilting her head.

"Yes.. by now the news of darkbending would have spread to at least to the earth kingdom... They would have to go under ground" lexi said leaning against the rail, "especially if that mummy guy told them about my lightbending..."

"I bet they're scared silly," Kira said looking out at the city, "I have a bad feeling we may find answers we don't want to find..."

"I say we split up and see what we can find out... I'd be willing to bet that they are in the old hideouts of the equalists.." Lexi said looking at the group.

"What if they have some of the equalist technology...?" Trixie asked quietly. "They might overpower us in that aspect..."

"I ain't scared of a few crazy people. Besides, I can take their dark bending..."

"You can do it on your own now?" Trixie seemed excited now.

"Yes... now I guess we should figure out groups..."

"Just don't put Jake and Lexi together... nothing will get done." Alexa said sitting on the rail.

"Besides.. we need to find out as much as possible..." Lexi said.

The airbender seemed to teeter-totter herself on the balls and heels of her feet, like a kid in anticipation. "So... how should we infiltrate their underground camps?"

"Simple. There's six of us, two teams go under; the other team stays above ground looking for suspicious behavior, stuff like that."

Trixie nodded and gave something like a silly fake salute.

"The only problem is, who is on what team?" Lexi said.

"I can stay above ground. You know, with my airbending and stuff."

"I'll stay above ground" Alexa said.

"That just leave me Mikey kira and... the other person," lexi said. "Wonderful..."

Trixie laughed a little. "As long as you and Jake don't start messing around down there, it'll be fine."

"Who said we were on the same team?"

"Oh, I just assumed... Well... um..." Trixie was in need a dark, seven-foot deep, escape hole; badly. "Hey look, Jake's coming back!" she shouted, abruptly pointing at him.

"Well, isn't that just dandy..."

Jake raised a brow at Trixie's excitement. "What's all the commotion?"

"We're going to see what's up with these darkbenders," Lexi answered coldly. "We're trying to decide up the other two teams."

Jake shot her a small glare, but calmed himself before he would get off track. "Okay, so, what? Who's on what team?"

"Trixie and I are on a team, and are staying above ground" Alexa said

Mikey interrupted and yelled "I'm above ground!" rushing back with Cinos on his tail.

"Mikey, we already decided who's above ground." Lexi said sending a silent prayer that she didn't end up with the avatar.

"But I have to be above ground. I can't just work with my water pouch alone. There might be a chance of more water nearby if I'm above ground!" Mikey pouted, catching his breath while Cinos screeched to a halt behind him.

"We can't send a non bender and an airbender underground. Plus, there's water underground."

"Not a lot."

Trixie agreed with Lexi. "Yeah, umm... I need to be above ground too. Air doesn't really like to be manipulated underground..."

Alexa agreed, "I can't see in the dark..."

Trixie then suggested with a soft smile "Why don't we do this; Mikey, Alexa, and I can be up above while you, Jake, and Kira can go underground?" Trying to hide her diabolical little genius sidefrom showing. "Jake and Kira can help out a lot with their earthbending."

"But... I... Damn it, fine, whatever." Lexi said crossing her arms. "Any objections..." lexi asked.

Trixie shook her head and gave a grin that seemed all too wicked for Lexi, but it didn't seem like the others noticed.

"Let's go." lexi said walking past the two 'innocent girls ", "I'm on to you guys..." Lexi whispered threateningly before walking off the boat.

Trixie smiled at Alexa and then followed the group.


	8. Chp 8 Shipping Wars

Jake walked over to the entrance of where they were going to infiltrate the darkbender's nation. He looked over at Alexa, Trixie, and Mikey with a flash of anxiety in his eyes. He didn't exactly feel like going on a mission under the Earth with Lexi at the same time. If it was just Kira, then it would be fine, but with the vibe that he was getting from Lexi... Let's just say he _**really**_ didn't like doing this.

"Guys, we can't communicate so say your last words now." lexi said.

"You say that like we're going to a slaughterhouse." Jake scoffed sarcastically.

"Who knows, maybe someone trips and falls and hits their head and they don't wake up." lexi shot back.

"Watch it Lexi, I sense a kind of threat there." He glowered at her.

"No, it's a perfectly logical scenario..." Lexi said feeling the electricity build up in her hand.

"Like you trying to throw me off the boat?"

"All right, all right, break it up you two..." Kira interjected, suddenly standing in the middle of them to insert some distance, barely pushing them apart.

"I didn't throw you off the boat... But I will whoop your ass right here!"

Kira gave a disciplinary scowl at Lexi. "Lexi Flame, I may not be your father, but I can sure as hell act like it. Keep it up, and see what happens." Jake then smirked at her behind Kira, just to get on her nerves.

"All right, let's split up and pray we all come back alive." Lexi said, putting her hands on her hips.

Trixie and Alexa looked at each other, Trixie trying not to laugh, and Alexa turning her back to hide her smile. "All right, well, stay safe everyone!" Alexa said, before running away to keep from losing it. Trixie followed suit, leaving a confused Mikey to have to catch up and a somewhat distressed team of sexual frustrations behind.

"I swear... All right, we have to find a door..." lexi said annoyed with life.

Kira allowed Jake to step away to the side, and looked at the ground. "I'm pretty sure I could sense any kind of emptiness in there and simply earthbend us an entrance in." He suddenly pounded his hand to the ground as he 'saw' what he could underground.

"Find a tunnel?" lexi asked looking at the bolt of lightning in her hand before making it go away.

Jake eyed her hand just before she made the bolt go away, suspiciously glaring at her, then turning back. Kira stood tall.

"There is actually a tunnel right below our feet. Lucky us!" Kira exclaimed before stomping down, hard and decisive, on the ground. He bent an opening right next to Lexi and motioned for her to jump in. "Go ahead."

Lexi looked at Jake and backed up.

"Ladies first" She said, sharply glaring at him.

Jake chuckled and gestured her to the entrance like a gentleman. "Hoes before bros."

"Go down the damn hole!" Lexi said shoving Jake down the shady, abysmal hole. "Don't break your ego while falling, wouldn't want to damage your charming personality!" she added before jumping down the hole.

Kira glared at them before Lexi pushed Jake. "Guys... Let's not-!" Then he sighed to himself, not knowing what he did to deserve punishment like this. He jumping in the opening himself, and sealed it shut, making it so no one would have ever noticed. Meanwhile, Lexi was sitting on Jake's back, Jake being in a very uncomfortable position.

"I'm sorry miss, did I land on you?" she said putting her head in her hand.

"Will you get off, dipshi-"

Kira coldly drawled Jake's name in a I'll-kick-your-ass-if-you-finish-that-sentence way and promptly tore Lexi off; away from Jake.

"All right, it's dark down here." Lexi said opening her hand using her fire as torch.

"No shit, Sherlock." Jake retorted.

Kira then decided that, in order to shut the both of them up, he had to earthbend types of earth-boxes around each one individually, allowing only the front of the

bodies without a wall so they could walk.

"All right, here's the deal," Kira whispered snarkily, "We don't have time to play love/hate-games down here, especially if we're trying to spy on the darkbenders. If we don't want to get caught, we have to be quiet. And that means no pissing anyone off. I'm keeping you in these so you'll behave. Got that?"

"Good job, Kira, if we get caught I can't take their bending 'cause I'm stuck in a box... Awesome idea." Lexi said sarcastically.

Kira rolled his eyes up to the ceiling of the tunnel, silently cursing the spirits for their cruel humor. "I'll obviously earthbend the box back into the ground before that happens. I mean, if you two can handle simply walking through a tunnel without attacking each other."

"I didn't attack him, he didn't move out of the way!"

"Oh, yeah, because that was totally an accident!" Jake snapped back.

Kira pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation. "Whatever! Can we just get moving already?"

"Fine, let me out of the box. It was my idea to come down here."

Kira chuckled bitterly "No, sweetie, I'm keeping you two in these for the rest of the walk and I'm only going to allow whichever way you're facing while walking to not have a wall. I can keep these things moving as we walk. If you two prove you can behave, then I'll let down the rest of the walls... Okay?"

"Fine." Lexi said.

"Fine." Jake grunted, not exactly happy with being almost encased in a box, of all things.

Lexi sighed, whispering "he started it though..."

Kira pretended that he didn't hear that and walked on, hoping to be out of here soon.

"..It's too quiet down here..." lexi said, looking around... well, as much as she could anyway.

Jake tried to look ahead and see if he could make out any figures, but there were none. Kira took off his shoes, which made Jake give him an odd glance through the corner of his box.

"you would think if there's an underground nation... you would know by hearing one" lexi whispered.

Kira clipped his shoes to his belt and nodded in the cold silence. "Yes... I know. I'm trying to sense any movements underneath, but I can't see anything. Normally, I would be able to, but... There's no vibrations from anyone except us right now..."

"That's weird. Why would-" Jake was cut off by a faint rumbling sound, growing stronger by the second.

"Is that what I think it is...?" lexi said struggling inside her box.

Kira immediately brought down the walls in an instant, and looked behind them with wide eyes.

Jake whipped around and saw a barrage of boulders and stone chasing after them with intense velocity.

"Son of a...!" Lexi said before running down the tunnel with her flame to light the way. "Come on guys, we have to get further down the tunnel!" she yelled .

Jake and Kira rushed up with her, trying to all cram through the tunnel's narrow opening.

"You go first uhvatar, that was no accident! You and kira go get somewhere safe above ground. Anywhere but here!"

Jake couldn't give back much of a reply since he was focusing all of his energy into running for his life, still, he tried to get out what he could in some sensible way. "No self-sacrifices... Today, princess...!" Realizing that the large debris of the landslide was gaining on her, he quickly swept her off her feet and tried to speed up. Lexi pointed out another path.

"Kira get out of here... PUT ME DOWN!"

"I'm trying... To save... Your life... Thank you very much!" Jake gave a glare of what he could to her. Kira still had to run in the opposite passage way anyway, since there was no room for him to run back with Lexi and Jake.

"It's not your life that's in danger, idiot!" lexi said trying to get down. The landslide seemed to be right on their tail as the three took their separate ways, Jake and Lexi being stuck with each other indefinitely. The boulders rammed into the entrance, making the whole tunnel quake violently, leaving Jake to fall and get up in an instant before Lexi could complain anymore. Lexi pointed at a hole in a cave in the wall big enough to fit two people.

Jake stared at the hole for a minute without saying anything.

He then gave an outburst of rage at Lexi. "Oh _**HELL**_ no! No, no, no, no, no, no-"

"It's that or be crushed by boulders, take your pick!" Lexi yelled back.

"Okay, let's go get crushed by boulders then."

"You get crushed by boulders, I'm saving my ass!" She said, getting down and diving into the cave. "Have a nice after life, moron!"

Jake actually thought about it, and then reluctantly followed her into the cave. Even if he hated her guts, he'd still rather be safe in a cave then stoned to death. The inside of the cavern was dark, damp, mucky, and there was an awful mold-like smell which was very prominent, even at the moment. To say the least, it wasn't exactly the most romantic escapade.

"It's only till the rock slide stops, then you and Kira are getting out of here, and going above ground." Lexi said, looking for some firewood.

Jake crinkled his nose at the awful smell penetrating the already shallow air; a slight scowl painted on his face. "Oh, yeah, and stick you in here by yourself with who knows how many multitudes of darkbenders ready to kick your ass all over the place; yep, that's smart."

"Its your ass they're after!" Lexi replied, starting a dimly lit fire. "... Thanks, I guess..."

"Don't mention it..." Jake trailed off as he sat down and turned his face, not allowing her to see his expression. He was kind of embarrassed, but he wasn't about to let her know that. "I mean it, don't. If you do, expect some shit to go down."

"All right, don't be an ass about it!" Lexi exclaimed, watching the rockslide . "I hope Kira's okay..."

Jake gazed with worry at the boulders still trying to ram their way through. "I know... I hope so too." He then lowered his head and turned back to the fire, trying not to think about what could be happening to Kira at the moment.

"Hey! He'll be okay!" lexi said standing up.

Jake looked up at her, trying not to show his disheartening thoughts through his eyes.

"He doesn't have you to do dumbass shit, I have that treasure... He'll be fine, now get up!"

He smiled sarcastically to himself "Gee, you always know just the right words to say." He then stood as she told him too; albeit, a little wobbly thanks to the surrounding darkness. "Now, what do you want me to get up for?"

"We're gonna go find who did this, why else, moron?" lexi said blowing him a kiss before walking off with a large stick with fire on it. It was considerably brighter and easier to see now with the blazing fire-on-a-stick.

Jake's eye twitched slightly when she turned around, but he brushed it off before walking off with her.

"Seriously, thank you though... I probably owe you my life." she said putting her hand on the hard rock on the back wall of the cave.

"I just did what I had to, it's nothing. I guess that's what avatars are supposed to do..." his voice having a slight tinge of... what was it? Sadness? Guilt? Once he said 'avatar'.

"Think you can knock this wall down hotshot...? What, so you don't want to be the avatar...?" she asked glancing at him.

Jake threw a couple hard fists at the air in its direction and the wall came crumbling down easily. "Why would I _want_ to be the Avatar?"

"I don't know most people would kill to be the avatar- Damn, it's like a maze in here!" lexi said looking at the different tunnels.

Jake looked around, and Lexi was right. They were like two tiny mice in a humungous labyrinth. He groaned in aggravation at the mere sight of it. "I thought you spirits were supposed to be helping me, not making my life worse." he said to the ceiling.

"Yeah, yeah... I wouldn't want to be stuck with me either... You go that way, I'll go this way." lexi said turning towards one of the vast choices of tunnels.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, princess!" Jake clutched her arm and pulled her back. "That's not exactly the smartest idea you've had all day. Haven't you seen those horror plays, where when everyone splits up, they get picked off one by one? You're staying with me, whether you and I like it or not."

"It's always the girl no one likes that gets picked off first anyway. What's it matter to you?" she said. Ripping her arm out of his tight grasp, she handed him the torch and started to walk down a path. He quickly sped up to her, though, using his earthbending to slide up to her.

"Uh, it means a lot. That means I won't have anyone to piss the hell out of, like I do you. Besides, what do you mean 'the girl no one likes'?"

"Exactly what it sounded like, now get away from me!" she said pushing him into a different tunnel. Jake bashed his back into the wall with a grunted "Oof" before he regained his posture and blinked at her. For a princess, she was pretty damn strong.

"Go find Kira, I'll find the darkbenders and if I die... Well, it's been a nightmare knowing ya." she salutes him before sprinting down a tunnel.

"Lexi, wait!" Jake yelled. He growled in frustration, dashing up in front of her, roughly clamping his hands down on her arms. "All right, can we drop the act here for a second?"Jake face was a couple inches away from hers. They were so close, he could feel her warm breath breathing angrily over his.

"What act? I'm being serious, go find Kira! Are you hard of hearing now?" she asked glaring at him.

Jake sighed. He wasn't good at this. "I don't... I mean, I... You... we-" Jake stopped his stuttering and exhaled to calm himself. "Okay, listen. Um, I don't... think you're... that horrible-" He saw the weird looks Lexi was giving him. "I mean- no, wait.. I just- .. Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did to royally piss you off back there." He said, releasing his hold on her to rub the back of his neck nervously, looking awkward and uncomfortable. "I didn't mean to make you think that I didn't like you. Because I do. ... Wait. No. Not like that! I mean... I admire you, but- I-"

"Save it for a girl who cares. I don't care if the whole world hates me." Lexi said, crossing her arms, "Go find Kira, are you really hard of hearing?" She said, looking away from him.

Even so, Jake stared with a curious gleam in his eyes.. "... Why do you keep saying it like that? Do you really think that?"

"So what if I do, it doesn't matter... STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT!"

"It does matter, since that's really pathetic. The whole fire nation threw a freakin' holiday for your safe return, you have a friend who pretty much worships the ground you walk on, and not to mention our whole group back there who care about you just as much as I do."

"Look Sparky, I appreciate what you're trying to do but you should really get out of here..."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then this happens." Lexi said, tripping him and running down the tunnel and then down many different tunnels. "Stalker..." she said finding another small cave to rest in. She didn't start a fire; just sat there in the dark.

He laid on the filthy dirt and bits of rubble and stone for a second before he took in what happened. He quickly sat up to see that she was gone with no way to find her. Jake ran a hand through his dark brown bangs that fell on his face. He knew she could take care of herself just fine, but he still didn't like the death threat that they were both facing. Huffing at his bangs, he stood up and lit a small flame in his hand. He looked at the ground trying to find something, anything that could lead him to her. He saw her footprints, and thanked the spirits for finally giving him a break.

He walked alongside the footprints for a while until he walked up to a tiny, pitch black cave. It was more like a hole in the wall. There were sniffing noises coming from within the darkness. He became much more alert at the poor sounds and made the flame in his hand grow larger in order to light up the cave. He knew who it was, but he didn't believe it. There sat tough, independent, bad girl Lexi; curled up in a ball with tears rushing down her face in long, unending, streams, looking as sorrowful as could be.

"What now... uhvatar...?" she said looking up at him pitifully. He didn't want to show her any kind of pity, because he knew she wouldn't exactly appreciate that, especially in the state that she was in. Jake instead crawled in, found some sticks for making fire, and lit it in silence. He didn't look at her, but he did sit down next to her, thinking about what to say.

"Pretty pathetic, huh...? Crying like some weak little girl."

"... No. It isn't. And I'm not saying that to sugarcoat or make you feel better or anything." Jake quietly replied.

"I'm supposed to be this lightbender... But now we're trapped here in the rocks, and dirt... Someones trying to kill us... I'm scared..."

"Imagine how Kira feels. He isn't a lightbender at all. Hell, he isn't even that good of an earthbender, and he has to put up with these guys." Jake chuckled, trying to lighten the situation.

"I suppose, but maybe princess's shouldn't pretend to be knights" she said sitting up.

Jake slightly nodded his head back and forth, as if he was contemplating her comment. "Yeah. Maybe. But, no one wants a needy, dependent, little baby who does nothing but whine and cry for someone to save her all the time. In fact, that's probably why most people admire you."

His voice softer than his usual tough tone. "You're the complete opposite of the fairy tale damsel-in-distress type. When people gets in your face, you don't shrink back and hide, you march right up to them and serve their ass on a silver platter." His lips curled into a humorous smirk. "You know, even avatars have to have their breakdowns every once in awhile."

Lexi cracked a smile in the dark, "You had to save me... I would have been crushed by rocks and who knows what else if it weren't for you, uhvatar."

"Yeah, no kidding. I didn't feel like watching you get pummeled to death, by a whole bunch of puny little rocks, no less. That isn't how someone like you should go."

"I guess that makes you this princess's knight in shining armor... Well then, let me thank you the way a princess should." lexi said smiling. Jake gave her a slightly puzzled tilt of the head.

"What do you-"

The princess had leaned up and kissed him sweetly before hugging him tightly, "thank you again"

Jake, although a little surprised, wrapped his arms around her in response, resting his head on her shoulder. A whisper breathed into the shell of her ear.

"You're welcome." they sat there in silence. Neither speaking a word, nor did they need to. Lexi felt the darkness of the cave trying to lure her into a slumber.

Kira was all alone in the dark caves. His foot was trapped under some strange rock he couldn't bend away. He heard someone walking in the cave. Horror struck when he saw some black flames. He prepared for the worst, but was shocked when a hand touched his shoulders. He looked up into bright fearful red eyes.

"Sir, are you okay?" the man asked.

"Why should I tell you if I'm okay or not?" Kira growled.

"Look, you don't have to trust me, but I'm not here to hurt you or the avatar..."

Kira glared darkly as the dark firebender pulled the rocks away and let him up.

"If you want to fight me, I won't stop you from doing what you think is right... I know where the avatar is, and that girl, I can help you get to them and show you a way out."

"Why are you trying to help us...?"

"Cause I've been a darkbender for four and a half years... I have only a year and a half left to live, and I'm sick of doing horrible things for the darkbenders..."

"Is that so Nightmare? Are you betraying your people?" came the frightening voice of the mummy-man. Kira shrank back away from the two darkbenders.

"I'm done, Okain! We don't belong in this world, I want my life back!" Nightmare said blocking Okain's path to the earthbender...

"Very well, I'll punish you myself, and take the earthbender to our master..."

"No, don't-!"

Okain pulled out his wave of black slime and lashed out at Nightmare, freezing hard black cuffs around his hands and doing the same to Kira. "The dark master will not be happy with you... Nightmare..."

The mummy-man turned and used the bent ice cuffs to drag the two behind him. Kira roared out in protest, his angry howl echoed all through the caves.

The echoing reached a small opening where the two young souls were resting. The sound had reached the avatar's ears just before it stopped abruptly.

Jake jolted awake at the abrupt sound of screams and yells. He suddenly tightened his grip around Lexi and told her to stay still, not liking where the frightening sounds might be going. They waited quietly. Slowly the sound of heavy footsteps became heard. Along with it, was the rustling sound of dragging, a dim light coming up to the wall and the shadow shaped like the mummy-man coming closer.

Soon he past the small opening, there was a short moment of relief but soon, Jake's eyes locked onto the two people being dragged behind. One a boy with salt and pepper hair he had never seen before, and the other was Kira!

Lexi quietly moved away from the avatar. She slowly stood up and crept against the wall towards the opening of the cave. Jake shot her a look of something like fear, but not as 'scared' as someone should be. He was more like nervous. He tapped her arm and whispered "We have to wait..." just in case she decided to run after them.

"Stay here... I'm gonna follow them... Something bad is gonna happen," she whispered quietly glancing around the opening of the cave.

"We don't want to get caught too. I'm coming with you, but we can't just go and follow them right on their tail." Jake whispered back, standing up.

"After years of sneaking into council meetings with the fire lord... I got this, Jakers" Lexi said looking to see if there were other darkbenders around. He looked around also, but it wasn't easy without any kind of light providing them the ability to see.

"I'll be back I promise" lexi said before walking down the path that the mummy went.

Jake stared at her walking figure in slight disbelief for a second before walking up to her as quietly as he could. "I already told you that we're stuck with eachother. I'm not letting you go anywhere alone, even though you can take care of yourself. I know you're independent, but for our sake, we can't split up."

"look who the princess is now," Lexi said as she glanced around the corner quietly.

Jake saw the mummy's faint shadow still creeping along the walls in the darkness, making the black surroundings seem even darker.

"all I need is him to walk away and I can get Kira..." Lexi whispered.

"Judging by those ice-chains he has around their wrists, I don't think he's about to let go anytime soon..."

"We need a distraction..." lexi said looking around. "if I can distract him long enough do you think you can get kira back to the cave..." Lexi asked cracking her neck.

He gave her something like a suspicious look. "As long as you don't do something stupid and get yourself caught, then sure."

"...no promises," Lexi said walking into the clearing hands a blaze with white fury. She through a fire wave past the mummy before leaning against the wall.

Okain stopped walking, ominously turning his head to look at her, "Well, well... If it isn't my favorite little lightbender..."

"really I'm your favorite I can't tell you how much that means to me," Lexi said yawning, "look I've got a nap to get back to so why don't you hand over the earthbender and we both walk out of here alive," Lexi said walking over and patting Kira's head.

Okain grinned darkly, "Oh this earthbender?" To her surprise, he unfreeze the eyes around his hands and mouth, then kicking him forward. "Go on... get out of here, if I see you down here again, I'll skin you all and decorate our home with your pelt..."

"well you see as much as I'd like to I've got a job to do and I can't leave without finishing it... Sorry love" Lexi said pushing Kira towards where Jake was. Kira stumbled and took off grabbing Jake and running for it, dragging Jake along while he looked back at Lexi with anxiety.

"You know as well as I you can't touch me," Lexi said as the flames around her arms grew.

The young man left at Okains feet struggled, and he burst into black flames, and jumped up, slashing out at the mummy-man's eyes and face.

"What the hell... Don't you work for him," Lexi said with a 'what hell just happened?' face.

"I was just on my way to get decommissioned for helping that earthbender get free from some rocks that fell on him. I guess you two must know eachother?" the darkbender said while dodging Okain's attacks.

"So you growing a heart has nothing to do with the avatar..." Lexi glared suspiciously.

"The avatar? where did you get that? I was just trying to help that guy get out of here before the sacrificial hour..."

"You're not gonna get anywhere darkbending..." Lexi said sending a large wave of white fire towards 'Mr. wraps' seeing as she decided to call the mummy.

Okain roared and turned on her, turning his bloody red eyes on her.

"I'd be running now," The dark firebender said as he took off running the same way kira did. Lexi turned and blew a kiss to the mummy, before blowing fire at him from her hand and disappearing I'm the bright light of the flame. Okain lashed the black water at the fire but had no progress in his favor. He snarled darkly as he swore cesses at the lightbender and the escaping traitor.

Kira was leading Jake through the tunnels. Nightmare ran past them veering off the the left. "Don't go right, its a dead end, there's an exit this way!"

Kira looked at Jake, then back at Lexi who was catching up. Lexi slid into a stop crossing her arms. The earthbenders and the dark firebender slowed to a stop to look at her, Kira turned his attention to the new corner.

"Just because you came in when you did and helped me get lost, doesn't mean I'm just going to trust you right here, right now..."

"But I know these tunnels like the back of my hand. We've been digging in them, and changing the paths for years incase someone like her appeared..." Nightmare said pointing to Lexi. "There is an escape rout up ahead, I promise"

Kira stomped and closed his eyes for a moment. He was quiet for a minute, but soon looked back at them, "He's telling the truth, these a way out just ahead of us..."

"If he says go that way I'm going a different way" Lexi said turning around.

"Fine, your funeral..." Nightmare said, "Now that Okain knows you're down here, there will be darkbenders everywhere, like waking up a hornet's nest. You may be a lightbender, but you can't take down an army of thousands..." he added before taking off. Lexi looked at the team.

"You're not seriously gonna trust this guy, for all you know Mr. wraps could have set this whole thing up!" Lexi yelled irritated.

"Lexi, I saw what that man did to this poor guy, he was going to kill him... I think he wants out just as bad as we do... lets just go, if he's tricking us, I'll kick his ass myself!"

"Fine but when he takes you all to the mummy I'm not saving your sorry asses" Lexi said walking down the path the darkbender took.

They all ran for a long time until they finally found their way out and back into the city.

"So what is he part of team avatar now..." Lexi said sending him a cold glare.

"Hah, good one," Kira said darker, shooting Nightmare a cold stare. "Alright, what do you want? You had to have helped me for your own benefit... What is it..."

"I don't want anything but to get out of here! And the least you could do is thank me for showing you a way out!" Nightmare said glaring back at Kira.

"We don't trust your kind..."

"Well, neither do I, they can all burn in hell for all I care..."

"Do you count your one of them" lexi said putting her hand on her hip.

"Wish I didn't have to! After all the years of crap I've done, I want out... But it seems that Okains idea of letting me off the hook was by taking off my head..."

"what should we do with him uhvatar" Lexi said looking at Jake.

"We could let Cinos torture him..." Kira said looking away. "If we had ways to interigate him we could get everything from him..."

"I'll tell you what ever the hell you want me too..."

"No. Wait." Jake interrupted. "Guys, I think he's actually telling the truth. Quit messing with him." He looked over at the darkbender, staring into his eyes. "I'm not exactly one to give mercy to every person who starts crying and stuff, but this guy... well, look at him. Don't you think he's telling the truth?"

"what do we do with him..then..." lexi asked.

Kira stared for a minute at the darkbender. "we'll take him back, and let him stay on the ship," he said holding up a fist, "But!" he added earthbending similar cuffs to the darkbender's hands. "I won't risk those black flames..."

"even I think that's to much kira" Lexi said looking at the cuffs.

"Kira is right, sorry... I was never told for sure if Okay could control us or not... If he wants, he could influence me to attack, besides I need to earn your trust, I can't just get it buy making you guys feel sorry for me..."

"Go find the others" Lexi said, "I wanna talk to the darkbender" she crossed her arms looking at the others. Kira nodded and walked off. Jake shot her a glance of caution before turning back with Kira.

Lexi watched the others go before heating the cuffs, " I'm gonna take you out of these..." she said breaking the cuffs, but in an flash the dark bender was pinned to the ground by lexis foot in his chest.

"Listen good... The avatar may want to give you a chance that doesn't mean I do so I warn you, you hurt the avatar, slip up, or give me the smallest reason to think you're faking this act... I will personally tear you apart." lexi said putting pressure on his chest.

"do you understand me.." she asked glaring down at him. Nightmare nodded while cringing.

"Yes ma'am..."He said. Lexi took her foot off his chest before turning to catch up with the group. Nightmare sat up and stayed where he was not sure if he should follow them or not.

"Come on I'm keeping my eye on you" she yelled. The young man shot up and followed her quickly. He glanced at her then away.

"Umm... Your lightbending... Does it really free my kind from the evil trying to take over?..." asked.

"Yea what of it..." she said looking up at him.

"I was just wondering if it was true, cause I heard about Darkfire..." His voice trailled as he stared off.

"How did you know Darkfire?" Kira said, glaring at him.

"Before he became a darkbender, I would hang out with him... He was following me 'cause of my power, I tried to tell him to forget darkbending, and to go home, but he didn't listen..."

"Are you asking me to get rid of your bending...?" she questioned her expression becoming softer.

"Yes but, my memories of the plans and netrowking, everything you would want to know about how to really get to darkbenders, would disappear with my darkbending..."

"..what should I do guys" Lexi asked, feeling a little pity for the darkbender.

"I'd say wait till he can tell us everything we want to know... there could be hidden weaknesses and other things we don't know about, and when he does we'll reward him with the light..." Kira said.

"You'd really do that for me?"

"what do you think princess Jakers" lexi asked.

Jake shot her a little glare at his little nickname. "I think that's a good plan. Go for it." He turned his gaze at Nightmare with interest. "If he keeps it up, then yeah, obviously we should take the darkness away from him."

Lexi nodded crossing her arms again. Kira pointed up ahead to a group a ways off.

"There they are... Mikey is going to have spazzing flip out about this..." Kira said sighing.

"you think" Lexi said rolling her eyes. The four walked till they were with the other group. Cinos ran straight to Jake and greeted him. Clearly he missed the young avatar. Lexi gave a deadly glare to the nonbender and the airbender.

Trixie had smiled sweetly back at her, giving a wave of her fingers. Jake had to hug Cinos forcefully to prevent from being toppled to the ground. Cinos wagged his tale and looked so happy to see the three. Mikey had joined them slowly.

He glared darkly at the darkbender standing a little ways away from them. Lexi stepped in front of the darkbender.

"layoff Mikey he's with us," she said. Mikey slapped himself across the face and shook his head looking at her with wide eyes.

"Please tell me you were trying to tell a joke!" He said. He was shocked and confused.

"Sorry but no... I'm gonna take his darkbending away once he tells us what we want to know," lexi said taking a proactive stance in front of the darkbender. Mikey knew it was pointless to argue with their choices, and simply sighed.

"Okay, I hope you three know what you're doing then..."

The others seemed just a little uneasy, even Cinos, who eyes the darkbender, making sure he wasn't going to attack his master.

"Easy, Cinos." Jake said, patting Cinos' head, trying to reassure him of no threat.

"Guys let's go back to the boat its not smart to question him out here" Lexi said looking around suspiciously.

"She's right, and its almost lunch time..." Mikey said turned back, "I don't wanna miss out of that awesome fire nation food."

"Move it hotshot" lexi said glaring at the darkbender.

Nightmare looked around wide eyed and followed Mikey. The young waterbender turned and did the 'I'm watching you' hand sign before continuing.

"Mikey stop it," lexi said feeling suddenly like a chambermaid for women with little children.

Jake and Cinos walked behind Nightmare, serving as something like protection from the back. Cinos sniffed at the darkbender, shaking his head at the new smells. Jake simply kept staring at Nightmare. Lexi glared at the avatar, while walking with her arms behind her head.

After the trip back the group arrived back on the ship. Lexi went off to the deck to take a nap. Nightmare placed himself where he could be watched and Cinos promptly planted himself next to him and lay down on his side with one eye on the darkbender.

"Hungry?" Mikey asked him. Nightmare looked up with a puzzled look.

"Do you want food, or not?"

"Oh... Bread and tea is fine..."

Mikey shrugged and went off to go find bread and tea.

Jake walked over and lazily sat by Cinos, having some distance between the darkbender and himself. He didn't want to make him feel crowded, what, with all the people on his case already.

"Should I worry about this animal?" Nightmare asked scootching away from Cinos slightly.

Jake switched his eyes over from him to the big blue beast. "No. You'll be fine. He won't do anything bad to you, because he knows the consequences." Jake threatened at Cinos. He knew he would never actually do anything to the playful wolf-cat, but the threats were good to keep him in line. Cinos flattened his ears a little scratched his nose.

"Well.. Okay, if you say so..." Nightmare said relaxing again.

Jake leaned back on Cinos, looking up at the the slightly darkening sky.

"I'm going to kill you both!" Lexi was chasing after Trixie and Alexa who were laughing. Trixie grabbed Alexa and flew up on on the roof using her airbending. She then proceeded to stick out her tongue at Lexi, making a heart sign with both of her hands. Nightmare watched them with a lightly amused expression.

"I swear next time you pull a stunt like that you're DEAD" she yelled throwing a single fire ball in their general direction.

"But you're made for each other!" Alexa said clapping like a school girl.

Jake narrowed his eyes, darting back and forth between Lexi and the two crazy girls. "Who's made for each other?"

"Stay out of this avatar!"

"it would be like the strongest couple ever!" Alexa said giggling. Trixie busted out in a fit of giggles and squeals.

"when I get up there!"

Mikey walked out past them all and sat near Jake and Cinos. His eyes were twitching and bloodshot. Nightmare turned his head thinking he had been kidnapped by a bunch of lunatics.

Jake eyed the waterbender with curiosity as he asked "What's with you?"

"All this bickering about you and Lexi being a couple makes me want to break something," Mikey said, trying not to sound like a demon.

Jake's eyes widened, either in shock or in anger-Mikey couldn't really tell- as he yelled "COUPLE? No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Me and her- we- WHAT?"

"My thoughts exactly..." Mikey snarled.

"You like her..." Nightmare said looking at Mikey.

"Good! You can have her. Make out with her all you want. I sure as hell don't want her. I'm not into girls like her like that!" Jake grimaced, giving a small shudder of disgust. Mikey fell over with his face all red.

"I agree entirely, frankly every guy on this ship gets on my nerves" lexi said with her eye twitching. Mikey got up and stormed away, his head down and his fists clenched tight. Jake simply slammed his head back on Cinos' back, knowing full well that Cinos' didn't really care since it didn't hurt him.

"I don't like her like that." He mumbled, looked pretty pissed off right about now.

"I'd rather eat poisonous bugs then be with him, why is no one interrogating the darkbender, is no one capable of that?" lexi asked rubbing her forehead.

"He did just barely get away from the clutches of possible death and torture from both our side and the darkbenders'. Besides, we don't know how long he's been wandering around in those caverns." Jake said in Nightmare's defense. "The least we could do is give him some kind of actual hospitality before we start a whole interrogation scene with him."

"Yea, I think that red head kd was going to bring me bread and tea, but he's probably way too pissed off now..." Nightmare said.

"you can't get pissed because someone doesn't like you, especially someone you've known two weeks"

"You can get your feelings hurt by people who seem to not like them..."

"yes, I never said I didn't like him I said every guy on this ship gets on my nerves, because when you basically live with people you get annoyed, that's only human nature"

"Enough, I'll talk to Mikey, Jake grab a little food for Nightmare..." Kira said walking in.

Jake agreed very willingly, and stood up. Happy to get out of this situation. "Hey, Nightmare. Come over with me and see if there's something else you want." Jake told the darkbender, hoping that Nightmare gets his hint and escapes with him.

The darkbender nodded and got up to follow him. Lexi hopped up on the edge of the rail of the boat and jumped down into the water. Nightmare watched and sighed making sure to stay near the avatar.


	9. Chp 9 The Healing Flames

The sun had risen from the water onto the fire nation boat. Jake opened his eyes realising he wasn't woken early. Mikey was not in his bed and Kira was snoring. Yawning, he sluggishly got up, made himself presentable for the day, and walked out the cabin. Cinos was pacing outside looking out at the city. Nightmare was sitting nearby watching the neurotic pacing. Jake slinked past the blue beast and sat near Nightmare.

"So... do you know what all this is about?" Jake asked, motioning to Cinos' odd-but-not-unexpected behavior.

"He's been doing that since the waterbender left... I asked him where he was going, Something about taking a walk to get his mind off of yesterday..."

Cinos nuzzled Jake's hand and sat down. Jake let out an annoyed sigh about Mikey. "He's not still going off about that, now, is he?"

"Who knows. It could have meant anything..." Nightmare said with a shrug. He looked over and saw the others coming.

Kira walked up with a yawn, "Come on Jake... Trixie and Alexa are going to tell us how their search went,"

Jake nodded and got up. Kira walked with him to a table set up a table and sat down with the others.

"So what all did you guys find?" Kira asked grabbing a plate and piling some breakfast on top.

"It looks like there are tunnels under the ones you were in yesterday" Alexa said rolling out a map of under the city.

"Really? I think you should expect that with a whole nation under there."

"I'm surprised I didn't detect them when I found a cave enrence..." Kira said while drinking some tea.

"No its not just here, the fire nation, earth kingdom... maybe the polls are the only places there aren't tunnels" Alexa said pulling out maps from the other two nations.

"Well, that's a big find... We found a rock slide and a very angry darkbender that wanted to kill us..."

"that's not a shock the actual nation would be under the tunnels you were in" Alexa said to the avatar.

"I think the tunnels act like a spider-ant's nest. It hids millions of angry little warriors so when under attack, they can strike back harder..." Kira said.

"you couldn't feel the other tunnels because their much deeper down, seriously she's still sleeping"

"Who is still sleeping..." Mikey said as he finally appeared and sat down.

"...No one" Alexa said feeling the tension in the room..

"Right... Anyway, I found a couple more things this morning, I went off on my own..." Mikey replied looking down at a tea cup, "We should return that darkbender to the mummy-man..."

"Why is that" Lexi said climbing in through the window.

"Why would you say that?" Jake asked. "I mean, he could give us information..."

"we have a deal with the bender anyway" Lexi said raising an eyebrow at the water bender.

Mikey shivered a little. "Ever wonder what's under the mummy-mans wraps, I'll tell you right now, you don't wanna know, I saw him today, he threatened that if we didn't give Nightmare back to him he'd..."

"He'd what? You know he's just full of it anyway, Mikey. And what do you mean, 'you saw him today'? What, did you two have a cup of tea and scones together?"

"That would have been a lot better then what actually happened. I was walking in the park when he came out of nowhere... I was frozen in fear I couldn't move or attack him, he said if we didn't do what we were told, he'd make my bending uncontrollable..."

"What does that mean?" Kira said, eyeing him with suspicion.

"He'll kill the guy if we send him back though" Lexi muttered.

"I know but..." Mikey began, looking at Lexi. "My bending..."

"I'm sorry Mikey... you're an amazing bender... But I won't let that mummy kill Another person" Lexi told him "I made a promise and I won't go back on it"

"Thats my problem, Lexi!" he snapped, "If I can't control my bloodbending on a full moon, I could hurt someone-!" Mikey stopped and looked at the others. He got up and left the room.

" what the hell?" lexi looked confused. Jake looked at her, remembering that Mikey had told him about his bloodbending. That was pretty bad.

"Good riddens then..." Kira said, watching Mikey leave.

"...do you really think he just ran into him Kira...?" lexi asked from the window.

"I don't know if I care anymore, I don't trust bloodbenders...:

"...he still the same Mikey though... I just can't break my promise to Nightmare" Lexi said looking out with window.

"I know, Nightmare needs to stay here. Seeing how desperate Okain is to threatan us with a bloodbender..."

"He may be mad that I may or may not have blown a fire-kiss at him" lexi said rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well, lets worry about it later."

"just send me back down there, I can defend myself from darkbenders" Lexi said standing up.

Jake looked at Kira, as if he wanted to say something, but he held himself back, making a mental note to bring it up later.

"I'll clean house then come back and see if there is any truth to Mikeys story" she proposed to the group.

"Try not to get caught." Jake said with a little smirk.

"I didn't get caught uhvatar!" lexi said throwing a small rock at him. "you guys look for Mikey, do we have a plan?"

After dodging the rock, Jake said "yeah" and looked at Kira for affirmation. Kira nodded, looking very weary after finding out about Mikey and his ability to bloodbend.

"Take Nightmare with you... Who knows Mikey might try to take him while we are out" Lexi said, Kira nodded and got up and walked out with the others.

The team walked to the city, "Alright someone open the tunnel" Lexi said cracking her knuckles.

Kira came forward and stomped the ground hard opening the entrance. Lexi turned around and saluted the team, "Keep the darkbender safe Kira" she said before jumping down the hole.

Before Kira could close it, Mike shot past leaping down into the tunnel with her.

"damn it Mikey what the hell are you doing!" Lexi yelled at him before rubbing her temple.

"I came to make sure Okain doesn't show his face..."

"you can do that with them up there Mikey...besides I'm gonna find out if your story is true... The team seems pretty pissed that you would turn in someone who's trying to do better" Lexi said opening her hand to use as a torch.

"I know he's trying to do good! But if Okain doesn't get what he wants... I don't want to hurt them... I don't want to hurt you! Ever since that day you opened up to me... I've really had a heart for you, If I hurt you, I would kill myself..."

"is this your dramatic way of you saying you love me or something like that" Lexi asked looking for the tunnel that led to the underground nation. Mikey's face turned red and he looked away.

"Not that it matters... I'm annoying anyway..."

"MIKEY I've known you two weeks, you're not in love with me, it's not even a crush I don't think, I opened up to you now your going crazy over our friendship Mikey" Lexi said, "its like when you save a polar bear dog puppy, they follow you because you protected it, you want to protect me but not because your in love with me" lexi pat his shoulder, before hugging him tightly.

"I'm so afraid, Lexi..."He said. "When I watched my sister kill someone with her bloodbending... I told myself I'd never do that... I would do what ever it took to protect the onces I cared for, even if it ment, ending my own life! Now, you're all in danger, because of me."

"We're in danger because darkbenders are crazy... Unless you told mummy man where our ship is..." lexi said walking down the tunnel that lead to the nation.

"I'm glad I didn't... I was too scared to even speak to him. Too busy looking at his horrifying face..."

"if you're scared go back" lexi said hiding behind a rock.

"No scared of this, just scared of mummy dude..."

"Then get out and find the others, besides its about to get crazy in here" Lexi said amused as she got a bright lightning bolt ready and sent it flying into a crowd of darkbenders.

"But party crashing kind of sounds like fun," He said grinning at the group.

"yea except water bending won't work on these guys... Get down and stay here!" lexi said jumping up on the rock.

"Boys over here" lexi said waving. Mikey hid behind the rock as the darkbenders charged.

Lexi smirked flipping over the darkbenders and landing in a handstand. "don't get to close you might get burnt" lexi said sending waves of fire while litteraly sweeping the darkbenders off their feet.

Mikey looked around and saw a pipe. An eyebrow raised as he busted it open. A cloud of hot steam shot out, the waterbender grinned and looked at the darkbenders. He bent the steam and covered the darkbenders making it hard for them to see Lexi.

Lexi pinned one of the benders against a wall with her foot, "where's the mummy... And I'd answer fast you see if I flick my foot your bending is as good as gone" lexi threatened.

"Okain stays in a secret room most of the time... No one knows where, nor do we look for him, you don't find okay, Okain finds you..."

"sorry not a good enough answer" Lexi said sending lightning into the darkbender through her foot. "Who wants to try and give me the right answer" lexi said letting the once darkbender fall to the ground. All the darkbenders started and were backing away, but not from Lexi.

"Every bender will tell you the same thing, my dear child. You don't find me... I find you..." Okain said from behind Lexi. Lexi turned around and crossed her arms.

"well if it ain't old rags... So I heard you tried to bribe the waterbender to give back your bender" lexi said.

"Oh, yes I did... The little waterbender was the perfect messenger for me... But he seems to have failed in his task, the sad little Nightmare is nowhere to be seen..."

"yea see the thing is... the group took a vote and well you aren't not getting him back, I just wanted to drop by and give you the message from our group, bye bye love" Lexi said turning and walking back to Mikey.

"Well, that's some message, isn't it?..." Okain said.

"it is, indeed" lexi said sitting on the rock. Okain grinned darkly at her.

"You look like I gave you a free ticket out..."

"you act like you can touch me," lexi said letting a bright white flame appear in her hand, "but you can't a little princess is stronger than you"

"You may be able to resist me, but the waterbender can not..." Okain said stomped with his foot hard and moving his hands. Mikey screamed from were he sat.

"Dark-blood... Bending?" Mikey cried out. "Lexi, get out of here! Now!"

"Let the boy go rags" Lexi said her flames growing hotter as her temper rose. The mummy-man's grin grew. He lifted Mikey from behind the rock.

"Oh you don't like that do you?"

"You won't like it when I punch your damn face in"

Okain glared and dropped Mikey. The waterbender yelped holding his sides. He knew that bloodbending hurt people, but now he knew how bad it could be to have all that power focused on him.

"Here's what's gonna happen, you are gonna show me and my friend the way out of here or you can kiss your bending goodbye your choice" Lexi said slowly walking towards him cracking her knuckles. "Or you can show us out and lose your bending"

Oksin hissed darkly and turned his nose up.

"you wanna play alright big boy let's play" Lexi said sliding while shooting fire out of her legs. Okie dodged and moved out of her way.

"Fine..." he said, as he did he pushed his hand to her face and Mikeys as well. Darkness pulled them up and shot them out on the surface..

"thanks love! come on Mikey let's find the others" lexi said waving before taking Mikey's hand and dragging him away. He got to his feet and ran behind her, cringing while he tried to get his nerve system to get normal.

"Princess Jakers where are you!" Lexi called looking around.

Jake twitched in annoyance when he heard his name being called like that. He turned around to find Lexi and Mikey running over, most likely having something important to say.

"Mikey's story checks out, but I got the mummy to bring us back up here cause I'm a bad ass" lexi said smirking.

"Thats great Lexi, ow..." Mikey said sitting down.

"Oh and the mummy bloodbended Mikey... I think his ribs may be broken cause he dropped him"

Jake shot an incredulous look at both of them. "Are you going to be all right, Mikey? Do you need some help?"

The waterbender tried to get to his feet, "I think I might..." he said holding his chest.

"Guys we need a doctor!" Lexi said wrapping her arm around Mikey to keep him up. Mikey cringed. Jake yelled for Kira to come over, worrying that Mikey's injury might be worse than they thought. Kira appeared at his side and looked at them.

"What is it?"

"I think rags broke Mikey's ribs" lexi said looking at Kira, "we need a doctor."

"Here," Kira said bending up a slab of rock, "Have him lay here, we don't want him moving if something is broken."

Lexi nodded and laid the waterbender down on the rock.. Mikey breathed and looked at Kira.

"What happened with you guys and the mummy? I know he bloodbent Mikey and all, but..." Jake trailed off.

"We told him he could forget about getting Nightmare back..." Mikey said with a smile.

Jake brightened up a bit but then had a small frown upon his face. "That's good. But I just wish you didn't have to get hurt like this for it..."

"Well, I was asking for it by following Lexi..." Mikey said.

"Still..."

"I know, I think I'll be okay..."

"I'm sorry Mikey... I shouldn't of let that happen" Lexi apologized looking down.

"Hey it's okay, we didn't know he could bloodbend, and I was being stubborn."

"But I-"

"Lexi... It's okay..."

"I should have seen it coming though.."

"But we didn't... Lets just get me fixed up and we'll plan a way to fight back..."

"No you are staying above ground where someone can keep you safe.." lexi said punching the ground. Mikey breathed a hard sigh.

"We better move fast, we don't want it to start healing wrong..." Kira said.

"can I help" Alexa asked quietly holding up a long bandage.

"Alright, here." Kira said adding another platform to the slab. "We'd better make our way to the hospital, you can mend him while we make our way there, because the closest one is a ways away."

"All you really have to do is make sure his ribs are aligned when you bandage him and get him some pain medication" Alexa said twiddiling her thumbs. Kira blinked.

"Well lets get that done so he can sleep off some of the pain."

"Sit him up" Alexa requested sitting on her knees. Kira carefully bent the ruck so Mikey wouldn't get hurt and so Alexa could do what she could.

"His uh..shirt..." Alexa pointed. Kira carfully pulled the tight shirt over his head and set it next to him.

"Dange, Mikey, you may be skinny but you're ripped!" Kira said.

Alexa felt making sure the ribs were lined up before tightly wrapping the bandage around his chest.

After the group had gotten Mike patched up and given medicine they went back to the ship. Alexa and Lexi went off to take a walk. Trixie and Cinos stayed near Mikey making sure he didn't try to push himself. Nightmare sat on the other side looking at Mikey. Jake stood with Nightmare, hoping and praying to the spirits that Mikey was going to be all right, even though he knew he was.

"Okain is like an angry child when he doesn't get his way..." Nightmare said.

"... Have you been with them long? The darkbenders, I mean." Jake inquired quietly.

"Yes, I've been a darkbending for almost five years..."

Jake nodded silently. Looking down at his hands, he thought about how it must feel being someone so filled up and overflowing with hate and rage and despair, that you aren't even the same person anymore.

Nightmare looked over at Jake. "So you're an earthbender? How is fire coming along for you?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Jake looked up from his spot. "Oh." His eyes darted down to his attire, thinking that maybe his clothing gave it away. "Yeah. It's going well, I guess." He shrugged, seeming apathetic about his training at the moment.

"Yea, fire is hard to learn... I can barely remember it but the training was rough,"

"You seem to be pretty good at it though." Jake complimented with a soft smile.

"I guess," Nightmare said looking at a small black flame in his hand. "I know you have to be a powerful expert bending to take on the energy of darkbending... But once you have it you no longer have your own body..."

"It must be hard..." Jake commented. He felt pretty bad for this guy, and that was saying something. Usually, if it's not someone he's close to, he would be much more skeptical before showing any pity.

"It is, but some of the darkbenders in the tunnels are like me, we've learned to get our heads back on our shoulders so we can think about what we have done... Now that I'm up here, I can get rid of the darkbending and do the right things again."

Jake agreed and smiled, believing that there's some hope for the others as well.

Lexi came back and sat near Nightmare, "Why did you even become a darkbender... Nothing good comes out of it" Lexi asked hugging her knees.

"When I took on the powers my mother and father had died... I was over flowing with anger and pain, but over the years, I've come to terms with their passing, and now, I just want out,"

"But to do whatever terrible things darkbenders do... Was it worth it losing yourself.." lexi glanced at him.

"No, not really..."

Lexi nodded looking away. Nightmare sat back and looked over at the others who had been taking shifts watching Mikey.

"I made a map of the underground system of the darkbenders."

"A map?... Why are you... You know helping us... Even if I get rid of your bending rags probably will come after you..."

"At least I'll be making up for all the horrible things I've done before he comes, and here," Nightmare said rolling out a city map with bright red lines adden on. "These red lines are all the tunnels, there are even dead ends in there. The big blob in the middle is where they all gather..."

"What do they gather for..."

"As far as I know they gather for comuning... Like a family reunion... Or something like that. Sometimes, benders are converted to darkbenders, or they're slayn on sight as an offering to the master..."

"Who is this master..." Lexi said looking back over at him.

"I've never had the 'honor' of meeting him myself... I haven't seen him or heard his voice, but Okain says he's a black eastern dragon..."

"A black dragon... Like the one from the story?" her head tilted curiously. "I mean... There is this old story from the fire nation,"

"Yes, he's the source of all the darkbender's powers... Some say there is a white dragon that only appears to her lightbenders. I'm guessing the dragons are brother and sister..."

"I have only heard of the black dragon.. But I thought it was just a story..."

"He's very real... If you ever see large gloswing red eyes in those caves, run, don't try to lightbend him..."

"Duh... Even I'm not brave enough to take on a dragon"

"Yea, I bet we could find the light dragon, the source of lightbenders powers... She could help us find more people to teach lightbending..."

"Do you know how hard it was to learn how to lightbend... Probably a hell of a lot harder than learning to darkbend" Lexi said opening her hand.

"No actually darkbending is directly given to you by the dragon... Can't be learned or self taught"

"You just said you've never met the dragon!"

"Just because he gave me my darkbending doesn't mean I met him... All you see is a black wall then dark shadows shoot out into you."

"Did it hurt...?"

"It depends on what kind of bender you were... In my case, yes..."

"What kind of bender were you?"

"Firebender."

"Are you from the mainland or the colonies?"

"The mainland..."

"I see...what are you gonna do after you have your normal bending back... Go home?"

"I'm not sure... I like it here... As in, here with you guys..."

"I could talk to the team and see if you can stay,"

Nightmare smiled at her, thinking that traveling with them would be fun.

"Oh there's one other thing you should know about darkbenders... We're weaker on a full moon, when bloodbenders can use their powers, we can't..." he said.

"Weaker during the full moon?" Lexi asked with a tilt of her head.

"We can't bend I mean..."

"Sucks for you then, guys should I take his darkbending now or no" Lexi called over to the team.

Jake looked up and shrugged.

"Well aren't you helpful Jakers..."

"Sorry, I guess so," Jake replied.

"Problem.. I don't know how to do it without possibly stopping his heart..." lexi said looking away embarrassed.

"Just think about how you want me to be free..." Nightmare said.

"oh and you're the expert now...?"

"I don't know maybe having an influence on what you're trying to do will help you to not over power the white fire"

"Alright but if it kills you it isnt not my fault" Lexi said putting her hand over where his heart would be. She closed her eyes as the white lightning began to build up in her palm. Nightmare closed his eyes tight, bering through the pain knowing that either way the outcome would be freedom. Lexi's other hand began to conduct electricity, she looked at her hand before holding the darkbenders hand, feeling the darkness slowly escape from his body.

"It isn't working as fast as it normally does..." lexi whispered to herself growing doubt full in her abilities.

Nightmare took her free hand and looked into her eyes as his were turning an emerald green. "I'm older than Kerugarn was, theres more to take out of me..."

"I guess" Lexi responded looking away from him.

"It's okay, I can feel the darkness fleeing from the light..."

Lexi nodded allowing the lightning to become brighter, "I... Uh I'm sorry for threatening to kill you... It just seemed shady for you to show up out of nowhere offering to help us..."

"Its okay..." Nightmare said as his hair fanned out to an orange color.

"No it isn't really... If my mother knew I did that she'd be embarrassed of my behavior.."

"I understand... But you didn't quite trust me before, and not many should just trust a darkbender that says he's a good guy.."

"Most people don't trust people who could possibly kill them..."

Nightmare chucked as color returned to his skin. He smiled and looked at the others.

"What are you laughing at! I'm being serious" Lexi said her face becoming flushed. He just smiled at her.

"Thank you for this,"

"Shut up! I said I'd do it and I did stop getting emotional over it," lexi said snatching her hands back.

Nightmare gave a playful rise of the eyebrow.

"I will punch your lights out pal"

"Oh come on, I'm not a punching bag," Nightmare joked.

"You are if you're on my team sparky"

"You'd attack a cripple?" Nightmare said with shock pointing to Mikey.

"Not him obviously but everyone else on this boat" lexi said her face becoming a darker shade of pink.

"Okay, okay I get it..." Nightmare said getting up. Cinos got off to inspect him. Nightmare hesitantly moved his hand to pet him.

"She likes you" Alexa said seemingly popping up out of nowhere."Well she respects you anyway,"

Nightmare blushed a little.

"I'm sorry if she threatens you, that's her way of being friendly"

Nightmare grinned and looked at Lexi, "Oh?"

"She's always been that way... Well with guys anyway" Alexa said watching Lexi's eye twitch. Nightmare grinned more at her.

"WILL YOU QUIT STARING AT ME!" yelled blushing said before jumping off the railing of the ship. Nightmare chuckled and looked at the others. He walked over to Mikey and Jake and sat next to them.

Mikey was eating a large bowl of seaweed leave. Jake had been watching Mikey scarf down everything despite the fact that his ribs were still healing. He couldn't believe this guy sometimes.

"Hey kid, don't eat so fast you'll pop," Nightmare joked.

"Don't call me a kid! I'm sixteen, and I'm starving!" Mikey snapped back, slightly irritated.

"Hey Mikey, chill out, he was just trying to be nice..." Kira said.

"Guys... Don't be rude" Alexa said raising her eyebrow.

"Sorry those pain killers are just making me feel funny, I've never needed them before..." the waterbender said looking at the empty bowl, "Hey can I have some more?"

"If you're nice" Alexa said taking his bowel.

"Pretty please?"

"Fine" Alexa said walking off towards the kitchen.


End file.
